Royal breaks her silence, but the French Socialist party soap opera continues

In the midst of all the recent bickering within the French Socialist party, perhaps one thing stands out. Ségolène Royal has been keeping a relatively uncharacteristic low profile.

But on Tuesday she spoke out and against all expectations, lent her support to the woman who narrowly beat her in last year's battle for the leadership of the party, Martine Aubry.

"I support all Socialists including Martine Aubry, who is working, who is making an effort and who is trying lift the party up again." she told journalists at a conference on Tuesday.

"I just don't accept that we reduce the future of a great political force of the Left to a daily series of media gossip."

Perhaps not a ringing endorsement, but at least it wasn't Royal "putting the knife in" as she has shown herself willing and able to do on more than one occasion in the past.

Don't forget that Royal has been the proverbial thorn in the side of many within the Socialist party for quite some time. She was of course its candidate in the 2007 presidential election, and the focus of much furore in last year's leadership fight.

That went down to the wire after 233,000 card-carrying party members failed to choose a leader at the Congress of Rheims in November and later in the same month were forced to vote twice to separate Aubry and Royal.

Even though the nod finally went to the mayor of Lille, Royal (and her supporters) characterised the vote as "rigged, fraudulent and flawed". You can read more details of that particular soap opera here.

Royal can perhaps afford to be "gracious" at the moment as there's another high profile figure in the party providing more than enough material for political headline writers - Manuel Valls.

And he just happened to be one of Royal's most loyal "lieutenants" in her unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the party last year.

In a nutshell, although nothing is ever that simple with the French Socialist party, Aubry sent the outspoken 46-year-old parliamentarian and mayor of the Parisian suburb of Evry, a letter last week in which she basically issued him an ultimatum: "Stop criticising the party, or leave!"

Naturally it found its way into the national media, and Valls was quick to respond, telling anyone who would listen that he had no intention of being dictated to.

"I'm not going to leave the Socialist party," he told Le Monde (amongst others). "And I'm not going to keep quiet."

And on Monday he took the row one step further writing an article in the British daily, the Financial Times, in which he reiterated his fears for the future of the party.

"The French Socialist party is at risk of dying out," he wrote. "Following three unsuccessful attempts at the presidency, the recent crushing defeat in the European elections speaks of a party in deep crisis."

Anyone even only slightly familiar with the political landscape in France will be aware that the Socialist party has been tearing itself apart for quite some time now, and usually Royal has in the thick of things.

Even when silent though she has still managed to make an impression, as the French business daily, Les Echos expressed in the form of a riddle: "She's absent and omnipresent at the same time. Who is she?"

So what of this apparent solidarity with Aubry, a women with whom she hardly sees eye-to-eye?

Cynics might say that it's all part to a longer-term strategy, after all Royal's ambitions are hardly a secret.

There are regional elections due in France next year, and Royal undoubtedly wants to retain her home power base by gaining re-election as president of her region, Poitou-Charentes.

That would be just the first step in her campaign to be the Socialist party's candidate for a much more important election in 2012 - for the president of the country.

And one in which Royal would dearly love to win the keys to the Elysée Palace.

To be continued...