Bernard Kouchner a French Socialist in UMP clothing?

Ah politics is often the home of the fickle it would appear. And nowhere more so than in France, where the protagonists switch sides and allegiances almost "on a whim" it would seem - or should that read "where they perceive potential for personal glory"?

Such is the case of Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, who has finally come clean and said he'll be throwing his weight behind the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) list for the European parliamentary elections in June.

So what? You might well be asking.

Well "so something" apparently because Kouchner, although a government minister, is not a member of the UMP. And indeed his political career has been one marked mainly by his support and involvement on the Left of the French political spectrum.

Plus there's no doubting Kouchner's popularity among the general public here in France. He regularly tops the polls of the nation's favourite political figures. So people take note of what he says and does - and they seem to like it.

In a sense Kouchner's political career is typically French.

In other words he has shown himself willing and able to change allegiances whenever it has suited him and refuses to be bound by political dogmatism.

Mind you he's not alone in the world of (French) politics where individuals form alliances for the "moment" almost, find "best friends" and then "turn on them" at a later date.

There are two examples of just such behaviour from ministers in the current government: Hervé Morin, (minister of defence) the former close ally of François Bayrou, the leader of the centre party MoDem, and Eric Besson (minister of immigration).

Besson was a member of the Socialist party and an advisor to its candidate in the last presidential election, Ségolène Royal, but quit to change sides in the middle of the campaign back in 2007.

But that's seemingly par for the course in French politics and the stuff of further tales. For the moment, back to Kouchner.

Just at the weekend in an interview with the national daily Le Parisien, Kouchner said that he didn't yet know how he would vote in the elections and was waiting to see each party's programme.

Less than 24 hours later however, he had managed to speed read his way through the manifestos of all this country's major political parties and, as the satirical French website Bakchich pointed out, had come to a conclusion in double-quick time.

Political commentators mused on the fact that two of Kouchner's cabinet colleagues, Michel Barnier (agriculture) and Rachida Dati (justice) are both standing for election (they'll have to step down if as expected they are successful), and the foreign minister had "perhaps" come under pressure to make his position clear.

For Kouchner though, the decision was obvious.

"It's the conception of Europe I've always supported and one which I always hope will overcome national differences and partisan logic," he said.

"That's the concept of Europe of the government to which I belong."

By any stretch of the imagination, Kouchner's support for the UMP is something of a long path from his political roots. But there again perhaps not so much of a surprise as he's an international humanitarian heavyweight and has often been described as a loose cannon given to plain talking

He began his political career as a member of the French Communist party, from which he was thrown out in 1966, and although he hasn't always been a paid-up member of the Socialist party (indeed he isn't at the moment) he served as health minister three times between 1992 and 2002 under two different Socialist prime ministers; Pierre Bérégovoy (once) and Lionel Jospin (twice).

He was a co-founder of both Médecins Sans Frontières and later Médecins du monde (he left the former after a bust-up to help set up the latter).

In 1999 he was nominated as the first UN Special Representative in Kosovo, a post he held for 18 months.

Kouchner twice narrowly missed out on top international jobs – in 2005 when he was, a candidate for the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a year later when a contender to become Director-General of the World Health Organisation.

Although he is an internationally renowned and respected figure many put his failure to land either post down to reluctance within the international community to throw their support behind an advocate for humanitarian interventions.

One final thing perhaps, lest we forget Kouchner's political track record and just in case it isn't already clear by now that he's not a man who easily fits into the mould of a party player.

Back in the 1994 European parliamentary elections he was third on the list headed by the Socialist Michel Rocard.

But how did he vote? For another party reportedly - that of that of Bernard Tapie.

So who's to know whether his public statements this time around will be followed through in the very private act of voting?