Hollande, Cameron and the 21st arrondissement

While David Cameron has good cause to be glad of Sarkozy’s defeat, he has even better cause to be nervous about this trend of lefty nerds being elected. Much of the Cameroon’s re-election hopes are pinned on the idea that their boss will trounce the geeky Ed Miliband. Nowadays, the argument goes, these ex-special advisers who have no charisma and alarming leftist policies just don’t win modern elections. But, as Ben Brogan argued in the Telegraph last week, the French may well be about to prove that even dullards can get elected — if the incumbent fails to deliver the change he promised. At least Hollande says he’ll balance the books by 2015, which is more than Osborne is planning to do.
 
That said, there are more selfish reasons for Britain to welcome a Hollande presidency. Yesterday, I passed a well-attended polling station in South Kensington and saw, inside, a Hollande poster (pictured, just above the smaller guy’s head).