Quick end to striptease during French political party's evening entertainment

It's clearly not an easy job holding public office and refraining from "putting your foot in it" occasionally with a throwaway comment especially in these days when every remark can be picked up so easily on a mobile 'phone and quickly find its way to a wider audience via the Net.

Surely that's why advisors, spokespeople and spin doctors are on hand to ensure damage limitation when necessary.

And without question, putting politicians in a potentially compromising position is something organisers of any event to which they're invited strive to avoid.

Well you would think so, wouldn't you?

Somehow though that simple reality seemed to have escaped organisers of a soirée for parliamentary members of the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) last week.

The party's good and great from both the National Assembly and the Senate were gathered for two days in Le Touquet in northern France to talk about matters political; planned reforms, economic growth and a whole host of other issues.

As is the case with such meetings it wasn't a matter of "all work and no play" with an evening's entertainment in one of the town's hotels being organised to which parliamentarians along with their wives, staff and journalists were invited.

As the weekly satirical newspaper Le Canard enchaîné, reports precautions were taken to ensure that there wasn't a repeat episode of what had happened just a few weeks earlier at the party's summer conference in Seignosse in southwestern France.

That was when the interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, was captured on camera making what many in France considered to be a racist comment.

A lesson learned apparently as those attending the soirée were requested to leave their mobile 'phones in the cloakroom.

A move that was probably just as well given the circumstances because, as the newspaper reports, part of the evening's entertainment included a performance by "two superb creatures very skimpily dressed."

Yes someone had apparently booked a couple of strippers for the audience's enjoyment!

Now what had exactly been running through the minds of those who had arranged for the two young ladies to appear in the first place must of course be open to question.

But the reaction of those present was less than enthusiastic, says the paper with many, such as the party's secretary general Xavier Bertrand and the junior minister for housing, Benoist Apparu, more than "keeping their distance".

After less than 10 minutes though (thankfully) someone had the presence of mind to usher the two women out of the room, and they never returned.

So a potentially embarrassing incident avoided and nothing harmful that could have made its way to the Net, although the two women didn't seem to understand why they hadn't been allowed to continue their performance if what they're quoted by the newspaper as saying is anything to go by.

"We came from Paris and we had been booked for the whole evening," they said.

"And we had brought with us four suitcases packed with different costumes."

Sarkozy sidesteps minister's racial slur

It's a story that has been making the headlines here in France for over a week now; the incident when the interior minister, Brice Hortefeux, apparently made a remark which many interpreted as being racist.

It occurred at the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party's summer conference at Seignosse in southwestern France at the beginning of the month.

Hortefeux was captured on video saying in the presence of Amine Benalia-Brouch, a young party activist of Algerian origin, that he (Benalia-Brouch), "Doesn't match the prototype. We always need one. It's when there are lots of them that there are problems."

When the video made its way on to the Net, the reactions and criticisms came thick and fast.



The opposition Socialist party and groups representing ethnic minorities and those campaigning against racism roundly condemned the remarks, with some calling for the minister's resignation.

And the spokesman for the Socialist party, Benoît Hamon questioned what Hortefeux was "still doing in the government".

But just as quickly, colleagues of Hortefeux leapt to the minister's defence.

The prime minister, François Fillon, told national TF1 television that the interior minister had been "the victim of a fairly scandalous campaign of defamation," and that, "I reiterate that he (Hortefeux) has my full support."

The environment minister, Jean-Louis Borloo insisted that "Brice Hortefeux is anything but a racist," and Fadela Amara the junior minister for urban policy and herself of North African origin, shrugged off the remark as being part of Hortefeux's "sense of humour".

It seems that Hortefeux is well known for making jokes that aren't always appreciated.

From Brussels though came a somewhat dissenting voice within the UMP in the shape of the reaction from a former cabinet colleague, Rachida Dati, also of North African descent.

Now a member of the European parliament, Dati said on national radio that although she hadn't seen the clip but had only read the transcript in the newspaper, she still found the remark inappropriate.

"I don't agree that it is humourous rather that it's tactless," she said.

"For me racism has nothing to do with humour."

For his part, Hortefeux has not apologised for the remarks he made but has said that he "regretted" the resulting controversial and "unnecessary" debate that followed.

And he had the support of Benalia-Brouch, who said that he didn't understand why there had been such a debate surrounding the video and that there had been no racist intent in what the minister had said and no offence taken.

But noticeably quiet up until now has been the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

The two men are close political allies and long-time friends, and indeed it was Sarkozy who brought Hortefeux into the government in June 2007 as immigration minister, then appointed him at the beginning of this year to employment before offering him the job of interior minister in June's reshuffle.

Sarkozy is keen to keep Hortefeux in government, and twice in recent months has taken steps to ensure that he remains there; first by preventing him from taking up the seat he won in June's European parliamentary elections and then by insisting that he should not run in next year's regional presidential elections.

So what has Sarkozy's comment been on the whole matter?

Well according to the national daily, Le Figaro, the French president had rather a different reaction to most on seeing the video.

"When you're a minister you are always on duty," Sarkozy reportedly told him.

"And when you're minister of the interior that counts double," he continued.

"You should have been wearing a suit and tie and not have put in an appearance so casually dressed."

Local French politician caught napping

Oh dear, we've all been there haven't we?

Attending some meeting perhaps where the subject was as dry as stale bread, or back in our student days battling the heavy-lid syndrome as the lecturer attempted to bring new meaning to the word "boring".

Whatever the cause might have been, a quick forty winks when inappropriate never really used to be that embarrassing or much of a problem as there was usually a helpful person sitting next to you able to give a discreet prod when necessary.

But those days it seems are long gone, and the ease with which anyone can now take a compromising photo' or video with a mobile 'phone or digital camera and then distribute it on the Net leaves us all vulnerable.

And such perhaps, is the case with a certain local politician here in France, who was quite literally caught napping caught on the job..

Jean-Marie Albouy-Guidicelli is the deputy mayor of the town of Montereau-Fault-Yonne in the département of Seine-et-Marne, south east of the French capital.

At just 38 years of age, the member of the governing centre-right party, Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) is a busy man with a packed schedule; take a look at his website for proof of that.

A website that's evidence that he's more than aware of how he can promote himself via the Net and backed up by the fact that he can also be found on Facebook.

In other words Albouy-Guidicelli belongs to a generation which is certainly more than au fait with modern technology, its uses and abuses and its potential pitfalls.

Posted on the video hosting service site Dailymotion on Tuesday, the 42-second clip shows Albouy-Guidicelli losing the battle to concentrate during a meeting in the town hall.

Grosse fatigue pour le 1er adjoint de Montereau-Fault-Yonne
par HAUTEKIET

All right, so he doesn't have the profile of the interior minister Brice Hortefeux, who was captured on camera (a mobile 'phone) making what many in France consider to be a racist comment at the UMP’s summer conference at Seignosse southwestern France last week.

But perhaps the polemic that surrounded that particular incident might have encouraged Albouy-Guidicelli to be a little more vigilant.

Hortefeux, you might remember, was filmed saying to a young activist of Algerian origin, Amine Benalia-Brouch, in an apparent reference to North Africans that, "He doesn't match the prototype. We always need one. It's when there are lots of them that there are problems."

The video inevitably found its way on to the Net and hit the headlines with opposition calls for the minister's resignation.



For his part, Hortefeux has not apologised for the remarks he made but has said that he "regretted" the resulting controversial and "unnecessary" debate that followed.