THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France’s prime minister, François Fillon, has thrown a spanner into President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reshuffle plans with a revolt against his likely dismissal.
The French President’s aides let it be known last month that cabinet changes would likely see Mr Fillon’s replaced by Jean-Louis Borloo, the ecology minister whose dishevelled appearance has earned him the nickname of the “Serge Gainsbourg” of French politics - a nod to the often drunk and unshaven late French singer.
But the plan appears to have stirred Mr Fillon into open revolt against the appointment of his putative successor.
The two men have been engaged in an increasingly vitriolic duel with Mr Borloo accusing the prime minister of getting supporters to lob rhetorical “stink bombs” in his general direction.
Relations have turned so sour that when Mr Fillon offered to give his rival a lift in his prime ministerial jet back from a meeting in Biarritz in September, he received a text message saying: “Go screw yourself”.
Mired in the lowest approval ratings of any post-War French President, Mr Sarkozy is expected to announce a major reshuffle this month to breath new life into his mandate as he limbers up for re-election in 2012.
Among those on the way out is Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister.
The co-architect of Mr Sarkozy’s electoral programme, Mr Fillon has seen his role sidelined in favour of a “hyper-President” who wields all the levers of power and micromanages policy. >>> Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, November 04, 2010
