No regional presidency race for Brice Hortefeux

In what was hardly the best-kept political secret of the week, the interior minister, Brice Hortfeux, has confirmed that he will not stand as a candidate for the president of the council of Auvergne in next year's regional elections.

He had been slated to head the country's governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) in the central French region.

But on Friday he said wouldn't after the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, had insisted that his long-term friend and close political ally was needed at the interior ministry - a job he took up in the government reshuffle in June.

Hortefeux's decision was to a great extent one forced upon him by Sarkozy, who appears to have decided that government ministers will have to step down if elected as presidents of their regions next year.

It's apparently part of an effort to prevent politicians amassing jobs, a common practice within French politics over the years as they've sought office on a number of levels - local, regional, national and even European - sometimes all at the same time

"The president has entrusted me with some very important responsibilities," Hortefeux said of his decision in a televised interview.

"Ensuring the security of our citizens and preparing how the country will face the threat posed by a flu pandemic require all my attention, and are incompatible with running for office on a regional level," he added.

So Hortefeux is doing "the honourable thing" if you like, in not standing in the elections next March - even if his decision to do so is at the insistence of Sarkozy.

The process of "accumulating terms" (and salaries as well as pension rights of course) was one discouraged under the Socialist government from 1997 to 2002 and successive centre-right governments under the former French president, Jacques Chirac.

But under Sarkozy, there has been no such unwritten rule, and it tends to depend on how politically appropriate it might be - or how much of a fuss the opposition is likely to kick up.

In fact it seems that Sarkozy blows hot and cold on the issue, depending on whether it's political expedient.

In June's European parliamentary elections the message was clear; a position as government minister or a member of the European parliament. Not both at the same time.

It was the reason why two former ministers - for justice, Rachida Dati, and for agriculture, Michel Barnier, had to step down in June after they secured seats in Brussels-Strasbourg.

Sarkozy "blowing hot" for sure and a convenient way of sidelining Dati in particular who had probably become something of a political liability on the domestic front as far as the president was concerned.

But wait, in those very same elections you might remember that Sarkozy faced a dilemma as Hortefeux rather unexpectedly won a seat to the European parliament (for more on that see here).

In the end Hortefeux declined to take up the post, mainly after being persuaded by Sarkozy - and let's not forget, he had just got his hands on the job he really wanted - that of the interior ministry.

While "hot" on the issue in terms of the European and regional elections, Sarkozy was decidedly "lukewarm" approaching "cold" in last year's local elections.

Far from it being a specified requirement of government ministers at the time that they should leave their jobs if elected to local positions, many of those who had never stood for office, such as Dati, were actively encouraged to put their names forward to boost their credibility.

For the moment though, back to next year's regional elections and the decision by Hortefeux that he won't stand.

It seems to assure him of a job in government even if, as rumoured, there's a reshuffle directly after those elections.

But the same cannot be said for some other ministers

Valérie Pécresse, the higher education minister is a candidate to head the list in the Ile de France region. The emplyment minister, Xavier Darcos, is the candidate for Aquitaine as is the health minister, Roselyne Bachelot, for Pays de la Loire.

If they're all successful, and should Sarkozy hold true to his word then there could indeed be some very high level changes in government come next March.