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Two words so often lacking in French government during Nicolas Sarkozy's time in office when ministers would regularly step out of line and speak their minds.
Sometimes it was refreshing such as Fadela Amara calling the proposal to verify the bloodlines of would-be immigrants with DNA tests "dégueulasse" or Rama Yade criticising the visit to France of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
In fact Guéant was a master of the most inappropriate and oftentimes racist of comments?
Thankfully though François Hollande is now president - just in case you hadn't realised...and you could probably be forgiven for not noticing.
So things are bound to be different.
Um.
Maybe not.
Hollande's 60 election promises (which is surely grounds in itself not to believe) included extending the right to vote in local elections to non-EU citizens resident in France.
On Monday a group of 75 Socialist parliamentarians - with more than an eye on the 2014 local elections - decided to call his bluff, urging Hollande and the government to get the process underway saying, "Proposals for were needed quickly because any reform of the law would require constitutional amendment and that would take time."
The reaction of interior minister Manuel Valls, the most liberal-minded and truly Socialist member of government, was one of which both his immediate predecessors in office, Guéant or Brice Hortefeux, would have been proud.
"Is this reform something which preoccupies the French at the moment and would it be a way of improving integration of foreigners into French society?" he asked.
"No," he emphatically told the French daily Le Monde.
"There isn't the same sort of drive for such a move as there would have been 30 years ago," he continued.
"The challenge today is how best French society can integrate foreigners."
Hang about. What exactly did Hollande say during his presidential campaign?
Well in his typically decisive manner, he "promised" a reform but of course left the timing rather open-ended as many, even within his own party, doubted (and still do) whether it was a "priority".
Such clarity: a promise made is one that's certainly not going to be kept.
Enter stage left housing minister Cécile Duflot, free from the constraints of having to toe the Socialist party line because she's in fact a member of Europe Écologie – Les Verts or the Greens to the rest of us, and one of that party's two ministers in the government.
Don't ask why they've been included because the Socialist party could quite happily form a government without them. Still there was an electoral pact, and we all know how much politicians believe in sticking to promises made.
Cécile Duflot (screenshot from interview with France Inter)
"It's absolutely a necessity and yes, it was an election promise (made by François Hollande) and it'll be honoured next year," she said on France Inter radio.
"It remains an important element in helping integration into French society," she added, contradicting neatly what Valls had said.
"Reform is such an obvious given, that it's surprising it hasn't been done already."
It remains government policy, but not just yet - and 2013 is still far enough away for plenty of other things to get in the way and banish the promise to the backburner.
Well that was an interesting weekend politically-speaking after the French went to the polls in the first round of the parliamentary elections, wasn't it?
No?
Oh all right then - predictable and tedious perhaps although it threw up a few fascinating results here and there.
And let's face it, TV and radio did their best to make a show of it, clearing their schedules and inviting all the usual suspects to comment and analyse.
Perhaps it wasn't quite the "triumph" for the Socialist party as suggested by an early headline on the BBC (thankfully it was changed to reflect better the actual outcome with a more measured "Socialists and allies win first round") but it was at least a promise of a reasonable working majority - either with or without Leftist partners after the second round of voting next Sunday.
In reality the biggest winner on the day was, as pointed out by many political pundits, the abstention rate.
Only 57.23 per cent of the country's 46 million voters turned out to cast their ballots. Or put another way, 42.77 per cent couldn't be bothered - a record for the fifth republic.
And although it might not seem so important, with France's complicated process of calculating which candidates can make it through to the second round, a number of them didn't make the required cut - even though at first sight they scored pretty high on the day.
Most of the government ministers who took the risk of standing - remember they didn't have to, but if they did and lost then they would be out on their ears - did pretty well.
Six of the 25 who stood were elected in the first round, among them big hitters prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and foreign minister Laurent Fabius.
A clutch of others should have no problem in the second-round run off including those considered to have taken the biggest risk: the minister of agriculture Stéphane Le Foll, and the culture minister, Aurélie Filippetti.
There could be one casualty after the second round though, in the shape of the minister for the disabled, Marie-Arlette Carlotti.
Some "personalities" from across the political spectrum came a cropper, most notably perhaps the former junior minister for human rights and later when that post was scrapped, junior minister for sport, Rama Yade.
She didn't make it through to the second round in the constituency in which she was standing in the suburbs of Paris.
Yade, who was one of the three high-profile ethnic minority figures in Nicolas Sarkozy's first government now finds herself in a political wilderness of sorts, but at 36 is young and certainly talented enough to bounce back quickly.
The same cannot be said for François Bayrou. The leader of the Centrist party Mouvement démocrate (MoDem) has been a member of parliament for "his" Pyrénées-Atlantiques constituency (described as his "fiefdom" - so very typical of French politics) for donkeys years (well since 1988, when it was created).
But the multi-presidential candidate (three times so far) is in serious danger of losing out to the Socialist party's Nathalie Chabanne in the second round. Clearly Bayrou's gesture of openly declaring he would vote for François Hollande in the presidential run-off against Sarkozy is having its impact - and not in the way Bayrou would want.
And then there's Seggers - or Ségolène Royal if you wish - parachuted into a safe seat only to find herself up against another (more local) Socialist, Olivier Falorni.
He ignored party instructions not to stand and was summarily suspended. But he finished just behind Seggers in the first round, is continuing his prolonged fit of pique (in protest at the practice of candidates being parachuted) and could well cost Royal a seat.
The Socialist party's "Big Guns" including - figure this - Martine Aubrey - are rallying behind Seggers, proving there's nowt so peculiar or erratic as a politician.
It's a similar story for former interior minister Claude Guéant.
He too has been parachuted into a safe seat - this time in the Paris suburbs - for the centre-right Union pour un mouvement populaire (Union for a popular movement, UMP).
Just like Seggers, Guéant finds himself up against someone (Thierry Solère) from his own party who is locally-based and who's refusing to follow orders.
Finally in this briefest of brief looks (which is decidedly longer than intended) there was the much-publicised but ultimately flat duel between the two extremes in a constituency in the north of France: far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon taking on far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
The two had of course traded verbal punches - or not, as one refused to debate directly with the other - in this year's presidential campaign for which they were both candidates.
On Sunday, Mélenchon failed to make it through to the second round, blaming everyone but himself in the process while Le Pen finished first and is still in with a shout (as far as she's concerned) of winning the seat.
Should she pull it off, she might not be the only member of the Front National - or the only Le Pen come to that - in the new parliament.
Gilbert Collard in one of the constituencies in the département of Gard in southern France, is well-placed to win his seat, especially if his UMP opponent, Etienne Mourrut pulls out of the three-way race (with the Socialist party's Katy Guyot).
No hesitation though for the Socialist party in one of the constituencies in the neighbouring département of Vaucluse.
It has withdrawn its candidate from the second round to allow the UMP contender to go head-to-head with a certain Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, yes the 22-year-old niece of Marine and granddaughter of Jean-Marie.
Maybe the most interesting outcome of the first round though is the possibility that the Front National stands a real chance of winning seats.
There might not be nearly as many as there were in 1986 when the party won 35 seats under the (thankfully) short-lived system of proportional representation introduced (for very political reasons of course) for the parliamentary elections by the then-president François Mitterrand.
But winning a handful of seats under the French system of first past the post would give the Front National the political credibility it craves and demands.
Little wonder then that Le Pen (Marine that is) is targeting some high profile UMP candidates by urging FN voters to "go Socialist" in a manner of speaking.
Perhaps though an event in that very constituency where Mélenchon and Le Pen did battle last weekend best reflects the first round results or at least how many French might feel about them.
It was the fate of one of the other candidates - there were 14 of them - standing in that constituency, Daniel Cucchiaro.
An independent ecologist (always a bad sign), Cucchiaro finished last; no shame in that as someone has to.
It was the style in which he did it though - winning zero per cent of ballots cast because...well...nobody had voted for him.
Ah it must be wonderful to have your spokesperson seemingly contradict not only what you've said, but also a statement made by one of your closest political allies.
Such was the case on Sunday when Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, who's thankfully more commonly known in France by her initials NKM, seemed to distance herself from one of the ideas expressed by interior minister Claude Guéant on the reasons for not extending the right to vote to non-EU residents in France.
Remember what he said? And in particular the sort of "threats" such a move would pose to society.
"We don't want foreigners becoming elected local councillors and then making halal meat obligatory in workplace canteens or public swimming pools being segregated according to sex."
Well, the link Guéant made between the reasons for not extending the right to vote to non-EU residents and faith-based meals in canteens, wasn't one NKM particularly appreciated.
She doesn't approve of either it appears, but also thinks the connection between the two is an "unnecessary" one.
And she said as much during an extended interview with Anne-Sophie Lapix, the presenter of the weekly political magazine Dimanche + last Sunday (of course) on Canal +.
Asked by Lapix whether she had the same fear that extending the vote would also lead to halal food in canteens, NKM took quite a somewhat different approach to that of Guéant - and indeed seemed to criticise him.
"I think there are enough reasons to be against extending the vote to foreigners in terms of it being the right of citizenship, and I think there are enough reasons to be against faith-based meals in canteens," she said.
"It's not necessary to make a link between the two."
(You can hear her say that at around nine minutes into the video)
That's all well and good: NKM not agreeing with Guéant, the man, who until he became interior minister in February 2011 had been a close political advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy for nine years.
In other words, Guéant rarely says something without having had it green-lighted by Sarkozy.
But worse, as far as NKM's comment was concerned, Sarkozy had made exactly the same link between the two as Guéant during a lengthy interview in Le Figaro just days before he officially announced he would be running for re-election.
"If non-EU foreigners could vote in France today, just think what would happen at a local level," he said.
"Questions would start being asked about whether halal food be introduced into school cafeterias and public swimming pools being segregated," he continued.
"Is this what we want? My answer is no. Voting must remain linked to citizenship."
You see?
Precisely the same ideas and argumentation linked in a way which NKM said was "unnecessary".
Oh well.
Perhaps NKM hadn't been briefed sufficiently well as at the time she was still the minister for ecology, sustainable energy, transport and housing, only stepping down once she had been appointed spokesperson for Sarkozy during his presidential campaign.
It can hardly have been anything more than a coincidence of course.
Just a day after the leader of the far right Front National (FN), Marine Le Pen, announced that she only needed 48 more signatures to be guaranteed being able to stand in the first round of the presidential elections, up pipes interior minister Claude Guéant.
He can always be relied on to appeal to voters who might be considering switching allegiances from the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, Union for a Popular Movement,UMP) party of Nicolas Sarkozy for Le Pen's FN.
And on Friday he took up a theme recently introduced by La Pen who claimed there was a cover-up over the quantity of halal meat being distributed in the Paris region without consumers being aware.
Guéant gave the subject his own special but equally xenophobic touch by linking it to one of the policies put forward by the Socialist party's candidate François Hollande - giving foreigners (ie non-EU citizens resident in France) the right to vote.
"Giving foreigners the vote is a way of opening the door to communalism (the idea of there being a stronger loyalty to an ethnic group rather than society as a whole)," he said during a speech in the eastern French city of Nancy.
"We don't want foreigners becoming elected local councillors and then making halal meat obligatory in workplace canteens or public swimming pools being segregated according to sex," he continued.
"Foreigners must accept our rules, it's up to them to adapt. Everyone knows if we have fewer immigrants, things will be better."
Yes, it was a government minister speaking!
Little wonder that in the past Le Pen has, not-so jokingly perhaps, offered him honorary membership of her party.
Guéant was of course laying out a policy direction clearly designed to appeal to Le Pen voters and just as importantly he was preparing the ground for extreme views to become more acceptably mainstream to members of his own party.
Because guess what?
On Saturday during a campaign rally in Bordeaux, some of those very themes were taken up as part of a speech given by Nicolas Sarkozy, especially the fear of the power (non EU) foreigners would wield if given the vote
And his words fairly echoed those of the interior minister.
"It would amount to an attack on the Republic by opening the door to communalism (there's that word again)," he said.
"And it would put mayors under the threat of blackmail of communalism."
Do you think the UMP campaign agenda is being defined by Le Pen?
Oh don't you just love it when a politician commits a slip-of-the-tongue?
It's especially gratifying when it's a blunder that gives a completely different meaning to what was meant to be said and furthermore comes from someone who doesn't come across as particularly "sympa", as the French would say, or personable.
This time around it was nothing so obnoxious - just a simple blooper which proved that he is human after all.
Guéant was speaking to parliamentarians in the National Assembly and addressing the issue of the Socialist party's primary to choose its candidate in next year's presidential election.
The governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) if which Guéant is a member isn't too happy about the primary on a number of levels.
It'll be open to anyone as long as they register and if it's successful could potentially give the party a momentum heading into next year's election proper.
It also raises the question as to whether there shouldn't be a similar sort of primary for the UMP, especially as the current president, Nicolas Sarkozy, isn't the most popular of political figures and some from his party might be quite happy with an alternative candidate.
So the UMP has been questioning the legality of the Socialist party's primary (along with that of the Europe Écologie - Les Verts party, EELV) on the grounds that drawing up lists of potential participants in the voting process contravenes the law.
But that wasn't quite how it came out of Guéant's mouth as he substituted "code électoral" or the voting rules and process with "gode électoral" or the electoral dildo.
Guéant's gaffe was similar to the one made by the former justice minister and now member of the European parliament Rachida Dati, back in April when, during a television interview, she too managed to muddle "code" and "gode".
Dati has something of a reputation for unintentional sexual innuendo - remember her much-reported "inflation/fellatio" faux pas last year - and admits that she often talks too fast.
Guéant though is a much more dour character and as can be seen from the accompanying video from the French news website Le Post, he was speaking much more deliberately... and from notes.
The French government has got itself into a right pickle over its decision to remove road signs warning motorists they were entering an area monitored by speed cameras or radar.
The interior minister - the seemingly omnipresent Claude Guéant - announced earlier this month that the signs would be disappearing from French roads and motorways.
It was part of the government's reaction to the increase in the number of deaths in road accidents in April - a jump of almost 20 per cent over the same month last year.
There were grumblings within the governing Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a popular movement, UMP) from parliamentarians that they hadn't been consulted, and from organisations representing motorists such as 40 millions d'automobilistes which insisted that the signs had "an instructive role as they informed drivers they were entering a dangerous area and would certainly be fined if they didn't watch their speed."
But Guéant persisted. The signs would disappear, "The decision was final and there would be no going back."
He was supported up by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who perhaps seeing a simple chance to appeal to the electorate (not that he's in campaigning mode of course and after all who can turn round and say they're in favour of road deaths increasing?) insisted that he would not "allow a rise in the number of deaths caused by road accidents" and the measure was one he would "absolutely not give up on."
Even the prime minister François Fillon, usually so savvy in assessing the strength of public opinion, threw his hat into the ring to support the decision.
That favourite of French pastimes, "polemic" then went into overdrive with some members of the governing UMP arguing that they fully supported the government's decision while others were less than happy as the first signs were removed last week.
So unhappy in fact that a group of 73 of them wrote to Fillon to express the anger and frustration felt by "millions of electors".
Oh yes - France is in a pre-election year, both presidential and parliamentarian, just in case you hadn't realised).
"We share your ambition to treat road safety issues seriously but we're disappointed by the complete lack of consultation there has been," they wrote.
"In addition we believe that there are other more urgent measures that could be taken to improve road safety that wouldn't be so unpopular."
"I confirm that the signs indicating the presence of a radar will be removed," he continued.
Right.
"They'll be replaced by signs indicating the speed at which a motorist is driving."
Hmm.
"But these new signs won't necessarily be in exactly the same place as the previous signs telling drivers they were entering an area monitored by radar."
Huh?
"There'll always be a new sign (indicating speed) at some distance near to where there's a fixed camera but there'll also be the same sign at points where there's no radar.
It'll be up to local authorities to decide where exactly they will be. "
Confused?
Apparently the very existence of those new signs, which only "sometimes" indicate the presence of a radar isn't backtracking of any sort.
But somehow the government has managed to ties itself into knots and come up with an inspired policy that was already in place - well more or less.
Proving once again that he is in no way a racist and only makes comments that are factually correct and amount to the truth because he says so, France's interior minister Claude Guéant was back on familiar territory at the weekend.
This time it was to tell the French that the country didn't need immigrants to fill positions as waiters in restaurants or builders because France already had enough people to fill the vacancies.
In a marvellous train of logic that seems to have become a Guéant speciality, the interior minister pointed to the country's 2.6 million unemployed, some of whom could presumably take up those low-paid jobs in restaurants and learn to flex their muscles as builders.
What he said during a radio interview on Sunday showed a true understanding of the nature of unemployment and how to get people back to work.
"Those people who are looking for a job cannot refuse to take up positions indefinitely and should have their benefit cut if they don't at some point take what they're being offered," he said.
"It's true that we need immigrants with skills and talents," he said, seeming to backtrack on comments he made a couple of weeks ago on the need to reduce legal immigration; comments which were also criticised by some within his own party at the time.
But remember this is Claude Guéant and what might at first appear to be a softening in tone turns out to be anything other and that.
"There are about 2,000 people we really need every year who have those skills and talents," he continued.
"But we don't need bricklayers or waiters because France already has the resources to fill those posts."
Ah the sensitivity and insight of the man!
Of course Gueant would probably deny that his comments are aimed at currying favour with those inclined to vote for the far-right Front National during the next presidential and parliamentary elections in 2012.
But that's exactly what Dominique Sopo, the president of the anti-racist non-governmental organisation SOS Racisme, thinks are behind the interior minister's thinking.
"There's currently a trend to create among the French a mistrust of foreigners as part of an attempt to appeal to those who might be attracted to the Front National," he said.
"But the direct consequence of these remarks is the rise in popularity of Marine Le Pen (the leader of the Front National) to an unprecedented level, one year away from the presidential elections."
Guéant might not yet have taken up the tongue-in-cheek offer Le Pen made of "honorary membership" of her party in March.
That offer came after his comments that the French were becoming worried about feeling at home in their own country.
But he's going the right way about securing himself another governmental job - maybe even as prime minister - should the unthinkable happen next year and the French return a far-right president: be that Le Pen or Nicolas Sarkozy.
Hardly a week goes by - no strike that - hardly a day goes by - without France's recently-appointed interior minister, Claude Guéant, making a remark guaranteed to hit the headlines.
Guéant is proving himself to be the master of the provocative comment that doesn't just border on the racist, but is clearly meant to appeal to any xenophobic tendencies that might and do exist among some French.
And his comments have once again ignited outrage from the opposition Socialist party and angered anti-racist groups.
"This growth in the number of Moslems and a certain number of behaviours causes problems," he said on Monday.
"There is no reason why the nation should accord more rights to one particular religion than others that were formerly anchored in our country."
Highly appropriate and timely from the interior minister given than the comments came on the eve of the debate organised by governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire's (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) debate on laicity.
It's a debate which is supposedly about secularism but is really more about the place of Islam in French society and comes shortly before the implementation of the ban on wearing full face veils in public places on April 11.
It's surely hard to defend Guéant's comments, even if some of his cabinet colleagues such as the higher education and research minister Valérie Pécresse have tried, when she suggested that the "Left was trying to whip up anti-Claude Guéant propoganda."
The big question remains though, where is the Omnipresent One, usually so keen in the past to rein in ministers when they step out of line?
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy has been noticeably quiet giving the impression that he is more than happy to allow his interior minister to be his "unofficial spokesman" in making an appeal to those who might be attracted to the far-right Front National and its leader Marine Le Pen in next year's presidential elections.
Perhaps it's Eva Joly, a European Member of Parliament for the Europe Écologie party, who best sums up the sentiment many have about why Sarkozy, far from reprimanding Guéant, could actually be encouraging him.
"Nicolas Sarkozy seems determined to overtake Marine Le Pen on the Right," she said after Guéant's most recent remarks.
"He's allowing his chief spokesman to 'surf' on subjects such as national identity, the Roma immigration and Islam," she continued.
"It has become an ignoble competition with the xenophobic Right."
Not a day seems to go by without the recently-appointed interior minister Claude Guéant making a remark which many are interpreting as an attempt to reach out to potential voters of the far-right Front National (FN).
"He's a minister whispering into the ear of the Front National," is how one prominent Socialist party politician, Jean-Marc Ayrault, described Guéant's latest comments about the need to prevent anyone using the country's services from wearing religious symbols.
In the space of a week he has made remarks that have angered the opposition Socialist party - and many others - worried some within his own party, confused and surprised those who've worked close to him over the years and provided a platform for the FN to expound its policies.
This time it was the suggestion that religious symbols should be banned in all public services - not only for those working in them, but also those using them.
"Obviously anyone working in a public service shouldn't wear a religious symbols or show any religious preference," he said in an interview on the news and current affairs channel i>Télé on Thursday.
"Nor should those using them," he added.
Guéant tried to cover himself somewhat by saying later that he had mainly been talking about hospitals and in particular cases in which women didn't want to be seen by male doctors.
But as had happened on the previous day with his "crusade" comment, the reactions came thick and fast and once again Guéant was flavour of the day in terms of news reporting.
Most telling of all the reactions though is from someone who knows Guéant well, and indeed worked alongside him for eight years.
Interviewed on Friday morning's news magazine La Matinale on Canal +, Abderahmane Dahmane, president of the democrates musulmans de france and until recently a special advisor to the French president Nicolas Sarkozy in charge of diversity, said he was as confused as anyone by Guéant's remarks.
"I have the impression that the sky is falling in on them," he said in reference to Guéant and Sarkozy, both of whom he said he still considered friends.
"In eight years of working together I never heard a word uttered by Claude Guéant that could annoy anyone. He was always the go-between, the moderator," he continued.
"But now, I don't understand why he's saying what he is. What purpose does it serve?"
Indeed.
And where is Sarkozy in all of this?
All right so he's currently playing "King of the World" as leader of the G20, G8 and the "crusade" against Libya.
But he's also a man used to meddling in all aspects of domestic affairs as he sees fit and reining in ministers whenever they're deemed to be overstepping the mark.
Sarkozy has been strangely quiet.
Perhaps part of the answer for Guéant's apparent change in behaviour and Sarkozy's silence comes in those cantonal elections on Sunday.
Oh yes and there's that debate on laicity set by the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) for April 5, which the leader of the party Jean-François Copé is organising to "discuss religious practice in France - including Islam - and its compatibility with the country's secular laws."
But there is of course also Sarkozy's poor showing in the opinion polls, the rise of in popularity of the FN leader Marine Le Pen and the fear that some UMP supporters will be attracted to her and her party's policies when it comes to next year's presidential elections.
Recent polls suggest that Sarkozy might not even make it past the first round of those elections.
Has he "unleashed" Guéant on France in an attempt to win over that far-right vote?
Sure looks that way - whatever anyone else is saying - or not saying.
Whatever was France's interior minister Claude Guéant thinking about when he said during an interview on Monday of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy's role in Libya that, "Fortunately, the president has been leading the crusade to mobilise the UN security council, the Arab League and the African Union."
France's interior minister Claude Guéant (screenshot from interview)
Yes "crusade". That's the term he used. Not exactly one lacking historical connotations as many in France have been quick to point out.
Even though he has since admitted that, "With hindsight I should have expressed myself differently and said perhaps that the president had 'mobilised public opinion to present persuading arguments to the security council'," the damage had been done and the word was out there for all to read and hear.
"Scary," is how the leader of the opposition Socialist party Martine Aubry described Guéant's choice of word.
"He would have done better to have kept quiet," said Aubry's predecessor and likely candidate for the party's presidential primaries, François Hollande.
"It was more than unfortunate, it was a word he shouldn't have uttered."
Even some within his party, the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement,UMP) were hard-pressed to defend Guéant's choice of word with the foreign minister Alain Juppé describing it quite clearly as a "blunder" and "one that had nothing to do with what was happening (in Libya)."
But was it really just an "unfortunate" term and an example of a man not used to the political limelight. Or is there something more sinister going on?
At face value Guéant certainly appears to be "like a bull in a china shop," as Le Point journalist Anna Cabana described the interior minister during her piece on national public radio France Inter on Wednesday morning.
Less than a month into the job and he has already managed to tell the country not only that Sarkozy has "led the crusade" but also that the "French don't feel at home in France".
Guéant though is no political beginner as Cabana makes clear. He has served for the past nine years as one of Sarkozy's closest political advisors and his views and thoughts must be well known to the French president.
Sure he has now stepped out of the shadows and is busy proving himself to be every bit as crass in his statements as his predecessor in the job and another Sarkozy crony, Brice Hortefeux (whose 2009 racial slur against Amine Benalia-Brouch, a young party activist of Algerian origin, still sticks in the craw).
But is this really just inexperience at play or a deliberate strategy by Sarkozy in the run-up to next year's presidential elections.
Has Guéant in fact been placed intentionally in the hot seat to try to appeal to voters who might otherwise drift towards the far-right Front National.
Remember its leader, Marine Le Pen, is currently buoyed by opinion polls that show her as a serious threat to Sarkozy's chances of making it through to the second round of voting in those elections.
Can Guéant really be the fool his statements appear to suggest. Is he just naïve when it comes to being in the public eye?
Watch this space for answers.
At this rate Guéant is not going to leave it blank for very long.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right Front National (FN) in France has jokingly offered the recently-appointed French interior minister, Claude Guéant, honorary membership of her party.
She was reacting to a comment he made on national radio last Thursday morning in which he suggested that the French were becoming worried about not feeling at home in their own country.
French interior minister Claude Guéant (screenshot from Europe 1 interview)
He has only been in the job since the end of February, but already the French interior minister Claude Guéant has well and truly made his mark on where he stands in terms of statements guaranteed to raise the heckles of the opposition Socialist party and promote claims that the political agenda in France is increasingly being dictated the FN.
Interviewed on Europe 1 radio on Thursday, Claude Guéant uttered a sentence which annoyed many in the opposition Socialist party, worried some in his own centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party and amused the leader of the far-right Front National, Marine Le Pen.
The phrase came as he was being asked about an interview he had given the national daily Le Monde published in Thursday's edition in which he had said, "The French want France to remain France."
"What exactly did you mean by that?" he was asked by Europe 1's seasoned political journalist Jean-Pierre Elkabbach.
"It means quite simply that the French - because of uncontrolled immigration - sometimes have the feeling that they're no longer at home," he said.
And then continued, "They see practices and customs imposed on them and which do not necessarily match the rules of our way of life."
It was a comment that brought a swift reaction from the leader of the Socialist party, Martine Aubry, who accused the interior minister of "mocking the values of the republic " by "speaking about the risks of 'uncontrolled immigration'."
The prime minister, François Fillion, meanwhile avoided being drawn on Guéant's comments.
"I don't attach too much importance to a turn of phrase, " he said in an interview on France 2's prime time evening news later in the day, insisting that illegal immigration was an issue the government was addressing because it "prevented integration and infuriated citizens,"
If Fillon preferred not to respond there were others within his party more than willing to air their opinions and demonstrating at the same time, divisions that exist.
"It's intolerable and illustrates that there's a 'Le Pen-isation'among some in power," said UMP parliamentarian Jean-Pierre Grand from the southern French city of Montpellier.
While for his colleague Eric Ciotti from the southeastern city of Nice, what Guéant had said had "a certain ring of truth and represented what many people are saying in our town, cities and villages."
And Le Pen in all of this? Well she toldLCI television - not without some irony - that Guéant could be, "An honorary member of the Front National" before going into attack mode and challenging the interior minister to say what exactly the government was going to do about the "threat of increased illegal immigration."
Off to Dhaulagiri
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The time of year has come and I am heading out on expedition again. Since
having summited Cho Oyu in autumn 2016, I have not attempted an 8,000m
peak, and ...
Slumming it in paradise
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Every seasonnaire in the Alps, past or present, has a horror story or two
about grotty accommodation. Old chalets so run down that the most
cheapskate of g...
Summer update
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Here is a summer update. The weather has been quite rainy but the clouds
have been amazing. I got a new camera this week so I have been playing with
it....
12 (“Une douzaine”) restaurant tips . . .
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*on how to blend in and*
*not to appear too much like a touristin a Paris restaurant . . .(or at
least how to be a good one)*
The following is based on ...
L'hexagone dans le Triangle
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It's been a while since I have posted to Polly-Vous Francais! I am happy
to report that I am now in the "Triangle" area of North Carolina, where
there is ...
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