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Francois Fillon mixes French sang-froid and radicalism François Fillon: French candidate devoured by 'fake jobs' affair
(4 months later)
How can a man whose hobbies include motor-racing, mountaineering and the bullfight be so impassive, impeccable and grave? For a brief period - between November 2016 and January 2017 - François Fillon was the great hope of a resurrected French centre-right.
That is the central mystery behind France's possible president-to-be, Francois Fillon. At 62, the former prime minister - long written off as an unexciting political dogsbody - had trounced the opposition in the Republicans' party primaries and was seen as a shoo-in for next head of state.
Detractors say that behind the mask of taciturnity lies a retiring personality ill-suited for the task of head-of-state. After the flamboyant egomania of ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, François Fillon's grave demeanour seemed appropriate for the country's troubled times. His programme of tough budget cuts and mass job losses in the state sector was painful but honest.
Mr Fillon, they say, is one of nature's lieutenants, a born second-in-command, a would-be leader without the guts to lead. Here was someone at last, said supporters, who grasped the truth of the economic crisis and would act boldly to restore France's fortunes.
Far from it, reply his supporters. And then came Penelopegate.
If the former prime minister is reserved, they say, that is because he has a rich interior life - and personal convictions that do not need the reflected affirmation of the media machine. The affair over payments to François Fillon's British wife, for work she may or may not have done as his parliamentary assistant, burst on to the news in January 2017 and was followed by a drip-feed of ever more salacious revelations about the candidate's lifestyle and wealthy connections.
And his path to the top may have been slow. But along the journey he has acquired a wealth of experience. The bid for the presidency, they say, comes from a man finally ready to assume the responsibilities of the office. In March he was placed under judicial investigation - a first step towards a possible trial for corruption.
MP at 27 Only a few months earlier, in a jibe aimed at Mr Sarkozy, he had asked ironically who could imagine the great Gen Charles de Gaulle running for office while under such doubts over his personal integrity.
Mr Fillon's political career has certainly been a long one. Now here he was blithely ignoring his own moral precept. As the presidential campaign got under way, François Fillon was already damaged goods. His poll ratings tumbled and the party despaired.
It was in 1981, aged 27, that he was first elected as a member of parliament, becoming the National Assembly's youngest member. The odd thing is that up to that point there had not been a hint that his weak point might be money. On the contrary, the image he constructed over nearly 40 years in politics had been sober, undemonstrative and provincial.
His party was the Gaullist RPR of Jacques Chirac. Gaullism features a strong centralised state with conservative and nationalist policies. The Gaullist
Mr Fillon's parents, a history professor mother and lawyer father, were also Gaullists, and he was brought up in comfortable circumstances near the western city of Le Mans. It was in 1981, at the age of 27, that François Fillon was first elected as a member of parliament, becoming the National Assembly's youngest member.
He studied journalism and then law. In 1974 he met his future wife Penelope Clarke. She is Welsh and they have five children, the last born in 2001. They live near Le Mans, in the Sarthe department which remains Fillon's powerbase. His party was the Gaullist RPR of Jacques Chirac.
Mr Fillon's first ministerial post, higher education, came in 1993 under Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. He went on to hold five other cabinet posts, before serving as prime minister for five years until 2012 under Nicolas Sarkozy. His history professor mother and lawyer father were also Gaullists, and he was brought up in comfortable circumstances near the western city of Le Mans.
For nearly all of this time, Mr Fillon was identified with the movement known as "social Gaullism". He studied journalism and then law. In 1974 he met his future wife Penelope Clarke.
Shift to the right They have five children, the last born in 2001. They live near Le Mans, in the Sarthe department which remains the Fillon powerbase.
François Fillon's first ministerial post, in higher education, came in 1993 under Prime Minister Edouard Balladur.
He went on to hold five other cabinet posts, before serving as prime minister for five years until 2012 under Nicolas Sarkozy.
For nearly all that time, he was identified with the movement known as "social Gaullism" - roughly equivalent to one-nation Conservatism in the UK.
His friend and mentor was the late Philippe Seguin, who believed in strong state intervention in the economy and society. Mr Fillon also shared Seguin's Euroscepticism, and in 1992 both men voted against the Maastricht Treaty that ushered in the euro.His friend and mentor was the late Philippe Seguin, who believed in strong state intervention in the economy and society. Mr Fillon also shared Seguin's Euroscepticism, and in 1992 both men voted against the Maastricht Treaty that ushered in the euro.
Later as social affairs minister under Jacques Chirac, Mr Fillon had the image of an honest dealer prepared to put in the hours during long negotiations with trade unions. Later, as social affairs minister under President Jacques Chirac, Mr Fillon had the image of an honest dealer prepared to put in the hours during long negotiations with trade unions.
All of which sits rather oddly, some would say, with the policies of Francois Fillon the presidential candidate, which are avowedly those of a radical economic liberal. All of which sits rather oddly with the policies of François Fillon the presidential candidate, which are avowedly those of a radical economic liberal.
In speech after speech in recent weeks, Mr Fillon has spoken in cataclysmic terms of France's "broken" social model, and the need for drastic cuts in state spending. Free marketeer
In speech after speech, he has spoken in cataclysmic terms of France's "broken" social model, and of the need for drastic cuts in state spending.
"Sometimes you need to tear the whole thing down," he says."Sometimes you need to tear the whole thing down," he says.
For Gaspard Koenig, of the free-market think tank Generation Libre, the explanation is that since leaving office in 2012 Mr Fillon underwent "a Damascene conversion". For his enemies, this virage libéral (liberal economic U-turn) is an easy point of attack. Another is his religion.
"He spent the last three years travelling up and down the country. He came to see the exasperation of ordinary people and how they wanted more than anything to get the state off their backs," he says. François Fillon is a practising Catholic.
Mr Fillon's "virage liberal" (liberal U-turn) is a bold strategy in a country where fans of Margaret Thatcher, as he says he is, are not exactly thick on the ground. He is personally opposed to abortion but says he would never seek to repeal the law. Nor would he ban adoption by gay male couples, although he wants the law changed so that a child can trace its birth mother.
And as his opponents seek to portray Mr Fillon as a dangerous right-winger, another weapon will also be to hand: his Catholicism. For the left, these are signs of worrying ambiguity on matters that are central to a progressive society. Some accuse him of pulling the Republicans on to territory normally occupied by Marine Le Pen's National Front.
He is a practising Catholic. He is personally opposed to abortion, but says he would never seek to repeal the law. Nor would he seek to ban adoption by gay male couples - though he wants the law changed so that a child can trace its birth mother. In the end, though, these arguments scarcely had to be deployed against him because his whole campaign has been devoured by l'affaire (the scandal). The self-destruction required little help from his opponents.
For the left, these are signs of worrying ambiguity on matters that are central to a progressive society. The left-wing newspaper Liberation headlined last week on fears of a return of clerical power. Lessons from the wealthy
But it is not just left-wingers who see a link between Mr Fillon's Catholicism, his character, and his policies. The picture of the man that emerged was not one many would have recognised.
For Henri Guaino, a former Sarkozy adviser, Mr Fillon "believes in redemption through pain, the idea that you need to suffer in order to be saved. He believes the country has lived too luxuriously for too long. The public learned that for years he had employed Penelope as his parliamentary assistant, earning her large sums in public money, even though she rarely, if ever, went to the National Assembly. He gave similar short-term jobs to his children.
"So now it needs to make sacrifices. It's like a purge." François Fillon had friendships with some very wealthy people. One of these, billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, paid Penelope for what appears to have been little more than a sinecure at a literary magazine which he owned.
The same Catholic conviction could explain Mr Fillon's famous taciturnity, a refusal to be ruffled, that can come across as either old-world courtesy or a cold reluctance to engage. It also emerged that he had run an international consultancy offering help arranging meetings with influential people. He had personally accepted gifts of suits and watches worth tens of thousands of euros.
And it might also shed light on one of the big questions over his career: why for five years as prime minister he suffered the constant humiliations inflicted by his boss, the man he came to loathe, Nicolas Sarkozy. In some countries, perhaps, this would not have mattered so much but France does not warm to the very wealthy, especially when they give out lessons.
But whoever seeks to caricature Mr Fillon as an emotionless masochist must accept that that is at best only part of the picture. To the public it seemed that he was tut-tutting about public sector indulgence while indulging the lavish lifestyle of a country gentleman, replete with his hobby for motor-racing.
This is a man who fell in love with motor-racing as a child when the Austin Healey team stayed in his village during the Le Mans 24-hour race. He could have become a professional driver. Making matters worse was his reaction, blaming a conspiracy of left-wing politicians and magistrates bent on bringing him down. He even personally named President François Hollande who, he said, ran a "dark cabinet" keeping tabs on political enemies.
He says he has "always had a problem with authority" and as a boy was briefly expelled from school for leading a demonstration against a teacher. François Fillon's core voters have remained loyal but an election that should have been there for the taking looks like it has been thrown away.
He despises politicians who "think of nothing but politics day and night: they are obsessed and unbalanced". Among his other hobbies are mountaineering and piloting drones. If he loses, he will have few friends in politics. The dark horse who became the great hope may soon become the black sheep.
His friend and ally, former minister Roselyine Bachelot, admits the frigid exterior. But she says: "Under the ice there is fire."