Anne Hidalgo’s socialist reign of error in Paris

A photograph, taken in June 2014, has become emblematic of Anne Hidalgo’s Socialist rule of Paris. In the picture stands Queen Elizabeth II, then 88, in Paris to unveil a plaque at the Marché aux Fleurs, near Notre Dame. The Queen, in addition to her usual black handbag, carries her own plastic umbrella. Next to her, the newly-elected mayor, dressed in a cream outfit, has her hands free while a city official holds a large umbrella above her perfect blow-dry.

The Spanish-born Hidalgo, 62, now about to announce her candidacy for the 2022 presidential election, is a woman untouched by self-doubt. Any criticism of her stewardship of the capital — where she was re-elected last year, between lockdowns, by only 17 per cent of registered voters — she ascribes to an ‘extreme-right cabal’. A close protégée of the former president François Hollande, Hidalgo has adopted his capacity to block out criticism and his skill at machine politics, even among the ruins of France’s shattered left.