FUN POLITICS IN FRANCE

by RAY FLEMING
THE undeclared war between Blair and Brown for the leadership of the Labour Party has its interest but it's not a patch on the fight going on in the French Socialist party for the nomination for President to succeed Jacques Chirac in next year's election. There are at least five prominent socialists who think they would be the best man to take on whomsoever in named as the centre-right's candidate. There is also a woman, the glamorous Segolene Royal, who is currently leading all the others in the opinion polls.
At last weekend's party conference the leader of the Socialist party, Francois Hollande, urged delegates to “Put aside denegration and suspicion. We must not give anything to the Right to use against us.” Admirable sentiments but unlikely to have much effect on the internal wranglings since M.Hollande and Mme. Royal have been unmarried partners for fifteen years and have four children. I've been trying to think what might be a comparable situation in the ranks of Britain's Labour or Conservatives, but I've given up. It's unthinkable. Laurent Fabius and Lionel Jospin, both former and failed prime ministers are among those known as the “elephants” who believe that Mme Royale, once a junior minister, is too light-weight and too media-conscious to be considered as Presidential material. The public think otherwise; opinion polls show they prefer her not only to the “elephants” of her own party but also to the likely centre-right candidate Nicholas Sarkozy.