Hervé Morin's historic error - a trip back in time

Fancy a spot of time travel? Then French presidential candidate Hervé Morin seems more than willing to oblige.

Hervé Morin (screenshot from announcement of candidature video)

Morin isn't making life easy for himself.

His campaign launch squeaked into gear last November much to the annoyance of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) which has been urging the leader of the smaller centre-right Nouveau Centre (NC) to put aside any stately ambitions he might have and throw his weight his behind the current president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Morin, who served as Sarkozy's - sorry that should of course read prime minister François Fillon as he's supposed to be the head of the government - defence minister from May 2007 until November 2010, was having none of it though and has so far doggedly stuck to his proverbial guns (ooh a bit of a pun there).

Not that it seems to be doing him much good as his poll ratings rarely climb above one (that really need to be spellt out) percent, as impersonator Nicolas Canteloup is of so fond of reminding listeners to his radio slot in the mornings on Europe 1 and viewers to his TV sketch in the evenings.

Then there's the case of François Bayrou - who used to be a buddy of Morin when both were members of the (not quite, but to all intents and purposes now defunct or at least on paper) centre-right Union pour la Démocratie Française (UDF).

Are you following? This is French politics where allegiances are built on the shiftiest of sands.

Morin supported Bayrou when the latter became the so-called Third Man in the 2007 presidential race, but the two men fell out shortly afterwards with Morin joining the government and Bayrou setting up a new centre party Mouvement démocrate or MoDem.

In stark contrast to Morin, Bayrou's announcement of his candidature in December was judged by most political pundits as a success in terms of pushing him up the polls and into double figures. Bayrou was on a roll and for some still is, faring better than he did at the same stage last time around.

Not content with being an also also-ran (will he last the course and is anyone really bothered?) Morin has now made a complete fool of himself and provided everyone with a classic bit of political nonsense.

It happened at a meeting last weekend in the southern French city of Nice with Morin coming over all emotional as he recalled the Allied landings on the Normandy coast in 1944.

Only during his speech the 50-year-old (important bit of information that) managed an HG Wells kind of moment as he literally travelled back in time to give the impression that he had been present when the Allies landed.

"You, some among you, with grey hair, witnessed the storming of the Provence beach," he said.

"I saw the landing of allied troops in Normandy," he continued without hesitating at the absurdity of his statement.

Morin was born in 1961.



Journalists, humorists and of course Internauts were quick to pick up on the mistake and Twitter was abuzz with moments from the past at which Morin could claim to have been impossibly present.

Cruel.

But at least Morin had the guts to face up to his mistake (did he have any other choice?) by Tweeting his own "Congratulations on your humour" and saying that "The French were full of creativity."

Jean-Louis Borloo announces split from UMP - Rama Yade follows

The former ecology minister and leader of the liberal-centrist Parti radical (Radical party), Jean-Louis Borloo has announced that his party is leaving the governing centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP).

Jean-Louis Borloo (screenshot from France 2's À vous de juger

The declaration came during Thursday night's edition of the political magazine À vous de juger on France 2 television.



Stressing that he wanted to "create a social and humanitarian majority" Borloo said his party was leaving the UMP and would join a new Republican alliance along with former defence minister Hervé Morin's Nouveau Centre and other centrist parties.

"The formal proposal will be submitted to the Radical party's congress on May 14 or 15 but you can now consider that there will be a new formation, a Republican alliance," he said.

Borloo didn't say whether he would run as a candidate for the 2012 presidential elections but all the signs are there and he emphasised throughout the interview that the new party had an "obligation" to contest both next year's races for the Elysée palace and the National Assembly and would "represent and distinct alternative" to the UMP and Socialist Party.

His decision came perhaps as no surprise as rumours had been rife for several months that he would split with the UMP, ever since he left the government in November after being passed over for the post of prime minister in the long-awaited reshuffle.

Rama Yade (screenshot from BFM TV)

And he wasn't the only former minister to announce he was leaving the UMP.

On Friday morning Rama Yade, followed suit.

"It's a page in political history that is turning," Yade said on BFM TV in reference to Borloo's announcement the previous evening.

"The left wing of those within the UMP needs to be heard, respected and have its views considered," she said stressing that she had felt the need to be true to her own values and she could no longer accept some of the policy statements and comments being made by government ministers.

How many others from the UMP, unhappy with the party's seeming insistence to go after the potential voters for the far-right Front National, will follow?

And if Borloo decides to run for office, will he present a threat to the chances of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, making it through to the second round of next year's elections.

Watch this space.

For the moment though, keep your fingers crossed.