Thatcherism for France: Sarkozy bows out as François Fillon surges in presidency race
So farewell, then, Nicolas Sarkozy. After winning just 21pc of the votes in the primary to decide the conservative candidate (and, most likely, the next French president) he has bowed in favour of François Fillon, his 62-year-old former Prime Minister, who had an unexpectedly good campaign. Just a month ago, Fillon was languishing on less than 15pc in the polls. But he performed well in the debates, surged in the polls and won 44pc of the vote. Next weekend, he will now go up against another Prime Minister, Alain Juppé, who won 28pc. Fillion’s platform is refreshingly Thatcherite: advocating British-style spending cuts, trimming around half a million public-sector jobs (in the UK’s case, this
