Dynasty

Cue the theme music and settle back into your armchairs for what looks set to be the Gallic version of that 1980s television soap – except this one threatens to run for longer.

No prizes of course for guessing the names of the main protagonists – Mr and Mrs Sarkozy. Although, - and here’s the twist – this time around it’s not the president, Nicolas and his wife of less than a month Carla. Instead, welcome to the Jean and Andrée show.

By word of explanation, Jean is the 21-year-old second son of the president, while Andrée is the 81-year-old mother of France’s head of state.

The setting for the latest episode of the Sarkozy saga unsurprisingly is the swanky Parisian suburb of Neully-sur-Seine, the personal fiefdom of the president for over 20 years when he was he was the town’s mayor.

And once again events are revolving around the upcoming local elections.

Neuilly is the sort of place where Sarkozy’s ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) could put up the proverbial donkey as a candidate and still normally be assured of a win.

You might remember that just a couple of weeks ago there was something of a furore surrounding the appointment of the UMP’s official candidate in the mayoral race. David Martinon, the spokesman at the president’s official residence, the Elysée palace and Sarkozy Snr’s own self-appointed successor, was parachuted into a supposedly secure seat.

Martinon had been flagging in the polls in spite of the sterling work that Sarkozy Jnr had been doing “on the ground”. With his long blond locks flowing behind him, Jean energetically and articulately pressed the flesh in much the manner as his father, proclaiming his firm and solid support for the embattled Martinon.

But politics is a nasty game and at the best of times and here in France allegiances are indeed built on shifting sands. Eventually Martinon was forced to withdraw from the race in the face of overwhelming local dissatisfaction with his lacklustre campaign.

That criticism was led by a triumvirate that included Sarkozy Snr’s long-time number two in Neuilly, Arnaud Teullé, and guess who? That’s right, Sarkozy Jnr, who proved himself once again to be a chip off the old man’s block.

Teullé was later shocked when the national party overlooked him and instead chose to throw its support behind another candidate, the non-aligned and perceived cause of Martinon’s eventual downfall, the “dissident” Jean-Christophe Fromantin.

In protest, Teullé then announced that he would be the new “dissident”, presenting himself as a candidate for the post of mayor.

Enter Mrs Sarkozy, Andrée into the fray. She’s the woman who stepped into the breach temporarily as a quasi first lady after her son’s former wife, Cecilia, did a runner.

She was also reported to have told him not to marry for the third time as she’d had more than her fill of Mrs Sarkozy’s over the years. So a formidable lady, who speaks her mind and isn’t too troubled by creating a stir.

And that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday evening, when the 81-year-old attended a soiree in support of Teullé and announced that not only would he make a good mayor, but she was also going to vote for him.

How wonderful for the president then, who has blown hot and cold over recent months about his involvement in campaigning for local elections before finally deciding to remain quiet. In the meantime of course, his own party has somewhat lost the plot in Neuilly, sacking the official candidate, supporting the unofficial one and cheesing off entirely one of the party’s stalwarts.

Meanwhile the scene shifts and it’s back to Jean.

Now in yet another layer of administrative overkill of which the French seem to be so fond, there are also local elections for some of the so-called cantonal districts taking place here in France in March.

Neuilly-sur Seine is in the district of Hauts-de-Seine and Sarkozy Jnr has now decided that he himself is going to stand for office to be elected to the cantonal council. He has the full and official backing of not only the UMP (for what it’s worth) but interestingly enough also his former ally and best friend, Teullé.

The two, it would appear, have buried the hatchet, albeit perhaps in each other’s backs as Teullé too is seeking election to the very same council.

With less than a month to go before voters make their choices, there’s still plenty of time for more Sarkozy’s to get involved in the action.

Carla has been quiet for almost a week now, and there’s an older son Pierre, who might like to have his say. Thankfully the president’s youngest son, Louis, is just 11 years old, so there not much chance of his getting involved for a while yet. Surely?

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