What a tale of two political ‘scandals’ says about the French elite

Two of Emmanuel Macron’s ministers were rebuked last week for words they had spoken in the past, but only one is fighting for their job: Caroline Cayeux, who is responsible for ‘territorial cohesion’. Last Tuesday, she was asked by the public senate if she regretted saying in 2013 that gay marriage ‘goes against nature’. Cayeux, a Catholic, said she stood by her words, though she was keen to stress that she had ‘a lot of friends among these people’.

Uproar ensued and two of her fellow ministers, Clément Beaune and Olivier Véran condemned her ‘anachronistic remarks’. On Thursday, a contrite Cayeux offered her sincere apologies if her ‘stupid and clumsy’ use of the phrase ‘these people’ had caused offence.

On Wednesday, it was the turn of Macron’s Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, to have his knuckles wrapped when two senators published their findings into the chaos at the Stade de France on the evening of May’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.