Meet Macron’s politically incorrect justice minister

Picture the greatest French criminal barrister of his generation with the physique and cantankerousness of Rumpole-of-the-Bailey and the media-strutting ‘blokishness’ of Nigel Farage. Just imagine this 59-year-old son of an Italian cleaning-lady, great orator, defender of all-comers – including in his own words ‘the gypsy who has just disembowelled an old lady to steal her 40 euros’ – as one of the most outspoken and fiercest critics of France’s highly politicised and insulated caste of judges and examining magistrates. Meet then, the new French minister of justice.

Emmanuel Macron’s much-heralded reshuffle has been a damp squib, save for the stunning appointment of Éric Dupond-Moretti, tribune of the plebs to Macron’s Caesar. Incredulity has not been so widespread since François Mitterrand, in the twilight of a declining presidency in 1992, splashed the headlines with the appointment of the popular, but highly controversial ‘businessman’ and football club chairman, Bernard Tapie, as minister for cities.