segunda-feira, 31 de janeiro de 2022

Vaccine mandate for NHS staff scrapped as Javid makes U-turn

Press Preview: We take a look inside Tuesday's newspapers

Apology over Dutch book that claimed to identify Anne Frank’s betrayer

 


Apology over Dutch book that claimed to identify Anne Frank’s betrayer

 

Ambo Anthos says it will stop printing The Betrayal of Anne Frank and admits more work is needed

Anne Frank famously kept a diary while in hiding in Amsterdam. She was taken to Bergen-Belsen and died in February 1945.

 

Daniel Boffey in Brussels

Mon 31 Jan 2022 17.43 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/31/apology-over-dutch-book-that-claimed-to-identify-anne-franks-betrayer

 

A Dutch publisher has apologised for a book that made headlines around the world by identifying a Jewish notary as the prime suspect for the betrayal of Anne Frank to the Nazis.

 

Ambo Anthos has said that it had decided to suspend further prints of The Betrayal of Anne Frank until there was more work done on the book’s central claims.

 

In a statement, the publishing house said it now believed it had been carried away by “momentum” around publication of the book and that it should have take a more “critical” stance.

 

HarperCollins, the US publisher which bought the English language rights to the book, were said by Ambo Anthos to have “determined the [book’s] content”. HarperCollins has been contacted for comment.

 

AdvertisementThe Betrayal of Anne Frank, by Canadian author Rosemary Sullivan, is based on six years of research gathered by a team led by retired FBI detective Vince Pankoke.

 

The book was published on 18 January with some fanfare, including a CBS 60 Minutes programme.

 

But within 24 hours of publication, historians and researchers had raised doubts about the central theory that Arnold van den Bergh, who died of throat cancer in 1950, had probably led the police to the Frank family’s hiding place above a canal-side warehouse in the Jordaan area of Amsterdam on 4 August 1944.

 

Critics specifically questioned the evidence behind the claim that as a member of the Jewish council in Amsterdam, an administrative body the German authorities forced Jews to establish, Van den Bergh would probably have had access to the places in which Jewish people were hiding.

 

Pieter van Twisk, who was part of the investigating team behind the book, said the claims made in the book had been appropriately caveated and that he was perplexed by the publisher’s statement.

 

The book, a result of a six-year investigation, suggests that Van den Bergh, who acted as notary in the forced sale of works of art to prominent Nazis such as Hermann Göring, had been forced by risks to his own life to use addresses of hiding places as a form of life insurance for his family. Neither he nor his daughter were deported to the Nazi camps.

 

Following the arrest of the family, Anne was sent to Westerbork transit camp, and on to Auschwitz concentration camp before finally ending up in Bergen-Belsen, where she died in February 1945 at the age of 15, possibly from typhus. Her published diary spans the period in hiding between 1942 and her last entry on 1 August 1944.

Partygate: Five key points from Sue Gray's report

Sue Gray Partygate probe finds ‘failures of leadership’ in UK government

 


Sue Gray Partygate probe finds ‘failures of leadership’ in UK government

 

Boris Johnson says ‘sorry’ as long-awaited report into U.K. government parties amid coronavirus curbs lands.

 

Boris Johnson Visits Healthcare Centre In Somerset

BY ESTHER WEBBER AND MATT HONEYCOMBE-FOSTER

January 31, 2022 3:49 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/sue-gray-report-partygate-boris-johnson-lockdown-party-coronavirus/

 

LONDON — An update from the official inquiry into claims of lockdown-busting parties in Boris Johnson’s administration has found “a serious failure” to observe the standards expected in government.

 

Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, was asked to look into a series of allegations that social gatherings were held in No. 10 Downing Street in breach of COVID-19 rules.

 

In her 12-page update — truncated while the Metropolitan Police separately investigates some of the allegations — Gray found there was “too little thought given to what was happening across the country” when considering whether some of the events should have gone ahead.

 

Johnson told his restive Conservative MPs Monday he was “sorry” — and vowed to learn lessons. But his Tory predecessor Theresa May was among those taking shots at the embattled prime minister.

 

Gray’s update arrives amid controversy after the Met Police — who were handed evidence found during Gray’s inquiry — called for “minimal reference” to allegations of gatherings it is currently investigating to be included in the report.

 

The senior official said the intervention of the Met meant she was now “extremely limited in what I can say about those events” and she conceded it “is not possible at present to provide a meaningful report setting out and analysing the extensive factual information I have been able to gather.”

 

But she made clear she did not want to “wait until the conclusion of the police investigation before publishing anything” given extensive public interest.

 

Gray took aim at “failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times,” observing “some of the events should not have been allowed to take place” and others “should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”

 

She also criticized a drinking culture in parts of Whitehall, saying, “The excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time.”

 

Gray called for “significant learnings” to take place as a result of the scandal — and specified those do not need to wait for the outcome of the police probe.

 

While Gray made explicit the limits of Monday’s report, the ongoing inquiry police inquiry could yet prove damaging for the prime minister.

 

Of 16 parties examined by Gray, only four did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation.

 

One of the events being investigated by the police took place in the Downing Street flat, the home of the prime minister and his wife Carrie, on the day his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings was sacked.

 

Johnson: ‘I get it and I will fix it’

Responding to the inquiry in the House of Commons Monday, Johnson apologized and said he accepted the need for change as a result of Gray’s findings. Some of his most senior MPs quickly signaled that won’t be enough.

 

Johnson announced the creation of an “office of the prime minister” and promised other improvements to the way No. 10 and the Cabinet Office are run.

 

“I get it and I will fix it,” he insisted.

 

But the PM faced shouts of “resign” from opposition MPs as he told the Commons: “We asked people across this country to make the most extraordinary sacrifices — not to meet loved ones, not to visit relatives before they died, and I understand the anger that people feel.”

 

If 54 of Johnson’s MP colleagues write a letter to party bosses, it will trigger a confidence vote on his leadership of the Tories.

 

In a highly-charged Commons intervention, May, Johnson’s immediate predecessor in No.10, said coronavirus regulations had placed severe curbs on the public who “had a right to expect their prime minister to have read the rules, understand the meaning of the rules and to set an example by following those rules.”

 

“What the Gray report does show is that No. 10 Downing Street was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public,” she added.

 

And veteran Conservative Andrew Mitchell, a former Cabinet minister who has previously supported Johnson, said he could no longer back the prime minister. “I’m deeply concerned by these events and very concerned indeed by some of the things he has said from that despatch box, and has said to the British public and our constituents,” Mitchell said.

 

Aaron Bell, a Tory MP not among the handful to have publicly called for Johnson to resign, recalled attending the funeral of his grandmother in May 2020 and being unable to hug his family or attend a reception afterward due to lockdown restrictions.

 

“Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?” Bell asked.

 

Ian Blackford, the leader of the Scottish National Party at Westminster, was even kicked out of the Commons chamber after refusing to withdraw an assertion that Johnson had misled parliament. Under British parliamentary rules, MPs are not allowed to accuse one another of lying.

 

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer renewed his calls for Johnson to resign, branding the PM a “man without shame” and saying he had “insulted the public’s intelligence” in his response to the claims.

 

‘This can only get worse’

A former minister, who claimed not to have yet submitted a letter of no-confidence, said the report’s findings were not helpful for No.10.

 

“It’s quite difficult to find a positive in this [for the PM]. I guess they were hoping [Gray] would be a lot more helpful and it is difficult to read it in that context,” they added. “My feeling is that this can only get worse from here.”

 

A normally loyal Conservative MP said the report offered no reprieve for Johnson. “There’s a police investigation into activities at No. 10, for god’s sake. How has it come to this?”

 

Annabelle Dickson contributed reporting. This story has been updated to include reaction and reporting on Johnson’s Commons statement.

Le sociologue Mathieu Bock-Côté était l'invité de "22H Max"





" On ne saurait segmenter une société sur une base raciale sans condamner chaque groupe à s'enfermer dans sa couleur de peau, qui devient dès lors l'ultime frontière au cœur de la vie sociale. "

L'essai sur le wokisme de l'année.

La vision racialiste, qui pervertit l'idée même d'intégration et terrorise par ses exigences les médias et les acteurs de la vie intellectuelle, sociale et politique, s'est échappée de l'université américaine il y a vingt ans. Et la voilà qui se répand au Canada, au Québec et maintenant en France. Elle déboulonne des statues, pulvérisant la conscience historique, elle interdit de parler d'un sujet si vous n'êtes pas héritier d'une culture, et vous somme de vous excuser " d'être blanc ", signe de culpabilité pour l'éternité. Le racialisme sépare et exclut, n'apporte pas de libertés quoi qu'en disent ses hérauts, et, plus dangereux, modélise une manière de penser le monde.

 

LE 26/04/2021

Etats-Unis/France : la "révolution racialiste" est-elle un produit d'importation ?

 

Dans un récent essai intitulé "La révolution racialiste et autres virus idéologiques", le sociologue québécois Mathieu Bock-Côté démontre les dangers de l'idéologie woke pour l'idéal républicain.

https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/le-tour-du-monde-des-idees/le-tour-du-monde-des-idees-du-lundi-26-avril-2021

 

Le mouvement woke entend fonder un nouvel espace politique, fondé sur la politique des identités. Mais forgée dans les universités américaines, et propre à la culture de ce pays, cette idéologie est-elle transposable à la réalité politique française?

L’essai que vient de publier le sociologue québécois Mathieu Bock-Côté, La révolution racialiste et autres virus idéologiques, est probablement le grand livre qu’on attendait sur l’étrange épidémie idéologique que, faute de mieux, on nomme "woke". D’abord développée dans les serres chaudes des "cultural studies", prêchées dans de nombreux départements de  grandes universités des Etats-Unis - Women’s studies, Black studies, Gay studies, Queer studies, Subaltern studies, Fat studies, etc. - cette idéologie entend fonder un nouvel espace politique, fondé sur l’exaltation de certaines identités, réputées minoritaires ou marginalisées.

 

Un certain nombre de penseurs de la vieille gauche nord-américaine, comme Mark Lilla, Helen Pluckrose, Bari Weiss, ont déjà beaucoup écrit pour dénoncer les risques que comporte le wokisme : il tourne le dos à l’idée d’universalisme dans lequel il voit une ruse des dominants ; il s’attaque à l’idée même de rationalité et lui oppose l’expression du ressenti des dominés ; il en appelle à la censure des idées qui lui déplaisent en prétextant qu’elles lui causent une souffrance insupportable… Mais le point de vue de Mathieu Bock-Côté n’est pas celui de l’ancienne gauche universaliste, ni celui du libéralisme, issu des Lumières. C’est celui d’un nationaliste québécois, vigilant défenseur de l’une de ces "petites nations" dont Milan Kundera a montré combien elles avaient conscience de leur fragilité. Contrairement aux grandes nations, telle que croit être la nôtre, elles vivent dans la hantise d’être anéanties et subjuguées, privées de leur souveraineté et frustrées de leur culture. Ce fut précisément le cas de la Tchécoslovaquie de Kundera, submergée sous les chars soviétiques en 1968, puis "normalisée" sous le contrôle de ses envahisseurs.

 

Une doctrine qui refuse l'horizon universaliste républicain

Le Québec, lui, aurait été "noyé" délibérément par le Canada, pour reprendre le mot de René Lévesque, fondateur du Parti québécois, sous une immigration massive, de préférence anglophone. Le "peuple historique" de la Nouvelle-France, pour reprendre une des expressions favorites de Bock-Coté, aurait été ainsi victime d’un "coup d’Etat démographique", destiné à "verrouiller son avenir" : minoritaires sur leur propre sol, les "Canadiens français" du Québec auront bientôt perdu tout espoir d'envisager l'indépendance. Depuis Montréal, Bock-Côté se révèle un observateur informé et vigilant des derniers développements du wokisme : celui-ci ne cesse de muter en se radicalisant. Mais dans la mesure où il participe aussi aux débats français, il est bien placé pour observer les retombées de l’idéologie woke sur le champ intellectuel et politique de notre pays. Et il nous met en garde contre les risques que nous fait courir une doctrine qui refuse l’horizon universaliste sur lequel se déploie notre vieil idéal républicain.

 

La politique des identités, importée des Etats-Unis, entretient la rancœur des minorités ethniques, en décrétant que non seulement notre Etat est "structurellement raciste", mais que notre culture tout entière l’est également, de manière fondamentale et essentielle. Et qu’il faut donc la "déconstruire". Or, observe Mathieu Bock-Côté, la France et les Etats-Unis ne partagent pas la même histoire. La "révolution racialiste" qui a lieu, en ce moment, aux Etats-Unis, a des causes qui sont spécifiques à ce pays et que nous ne partageons pas : l’esclavage a été une institution sur le sol américain jusqu’à la victoire des Etats du Nord sur ceux du Sud, en 1865. Et même après l’interdiction légale de cette pratique infâme, les trop fameuses lois Jim Crow ont maintenu, au Sud, une discrimination raciale qui a perduré jusqu’aux grandes lois sur les droits civiques de 1964 et 1965. Cette histoire a laissé des traces.

 

Etats-Unis / France : des histoires différentes

La question raciale travaille effectivement l’histoire des Etats-Unis et est indissociable de leur structure sociale, et nul ne saurait dédramatiser la situation des Noirs américains. Il est toutefois plus étonnant qu’en l’espace de quelques années, l’imaginaire sociologique du racialisme ait franchi aussi rapidement les frontières américaines, au nord comme à l’est. Au point même de traverser l’Atlantique, comme si les autres sociétés occidentales se mettaient à repenser leur situation historique selon des grilles d’analyser n’ayant rien à voir avec leur réalité. La névrose raciale américaine s’est ainsi exportée partout dans les sociétés occidentales et touche particulièrement la France.   

 

Mathieu Bock-Côté, La révolution racialiste

Or, poursuit Bock-Côté, il y a une différence fondamentale entre « les Noirs américains, descendants d’esclaves et les descendants d’immigrés et de réfugiés ailleurs en Occident : (…) Les populations associées à la "diversité" en Europe descendent d’immigrés et de réfugiés qui ont poursuivi, dans ces différents pays, l’espoir de trouver une vie meilleure, il ne s’agit pas, encore une fois, de descendants d’esclaves. »


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Trump’s Grip on G.O.P. Faces New Strains

 




Trump’s Grip on G.O.P. Faces New Strains

 

Shifts in polls of Republicans, disagreements on endorsements and jeers over vaccines hint at daylight between the former president and the right-wing movement he spawned.

 

Shane Goldmacher

By Shane Goldmacher

Jan. 31, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/us/politics/trump-grip-republicans-polls.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=US%20Politics

 

About halfway into his Texas rally on Saturday evening, Donald J. Trump pivoted toward the teleprompter and away from a meandering set of grievances to rattle off a tightly prepared list of President Biden’s failings and his own achievements.

 

“Let’s simply compare the records,” Mr. Trump said, as supporters in “Trump 2024” shirts cheered behind him, framed perfectly in the television shot.

 

Mr. Trump, who later went on to talk about “that beautiful, beautiful house that happens to be white,” has left increasingly little doubt about his intentions, plotting an influential role in the 2022 midterm elections and another potential White House run. But a fresh round of skirmishes over his endorsements, fissures with the Republican base over vaccines — a word Mr. Trump conspicuously left unsaid at Saturday’s rally — and new polling all show how his longstanding vise grip on the Republican Party is facing growing strains.

 

In Texas, some grass-roots conservatives are vocally frustrated with Mr. Trump’s backing of Gov. Greg Abbott, even booing Mr. Abbott when he took the stage. In North Carolina, Mr. Trump’s behind-the-scenes efforts to shrink the Republican field to help his preferred Senate candidate failed last week. And in Tennessee, a recent Trump endorsement set off an unusually public backlash, even among his most loyal allies, both in Congress and in conservative media.

 

The Tennessee episode, in particular, showed how the Make America Great Again movement that Mr. Trump birthed is maturing to the point where it can, at times, exist separate and apart from — and even at odds with — Mr. Trump himself.

 

Mr. Trump remains, overwhelmingly, the most popular and powerful figure in the Republican Party. He is the polling front-runner in 2024, an unmatched fund-raising force and still able to fill fairgrounds with huge crowds. But after issuing roughly 100 endorsements in races nationwide, Mr. Trump will face a gantlet of proxy tests of his political strength in the coming months, just as public polls show his sway over the G.O.P. electorate is not what it once was.

 

“Things feel like they’ve been shifting,” said Patrick Ruffini, a Republican pollster who regularly surveys Mr. Trump’s standing in the party. “It’s a strong attachment. It’s one that very likely would win a Republican primary today. But is it the same ironclad, monolithic, Soviet-like attachment that we saw when Donald Trump was the incumbent president? No, it is not.”

 

In a recent Associated Press survey, 44 percent of Republicans said they did not want Mr. Trump to run for president again, while a potential G.O.P. rival in 2024, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, has narrowed the gap in other way-too-early snapshots of a hypothetical primary — new signs of potential vulnerability for the former president.

 

In a reversal from Mr. Trump’s White House days, an NBC News poll in late January found that 56 percent of Republicans now define themselves more as supporters of the Republican Party, compared to 36 percent who said they are supporters of Mr. Trump first.

 

The Trump-first faction had accounted for 54 percent of Republican voters in October 2020. The erosion since then spanned every demographic: men and women, moderates and conservatives, people of every age.

 

Among the biggest swings was in a group widely seen as Mr. Trump’s most loyal constituency: white Republicans without college degrees, who went from 62 percent identifying first with Mr. Trump to 36 percent.

 

Frank Luntz, a prominent G.O.P. pollster, said Republican support for the former president is moving in complex ways — simultaneously both intensifying and diminishing.

 

“The Trump group is smaller today than it has been in five years, but it is even more intense, more passionate and more unforgiving of his critics,” Mr. Luntz said. “As people slowly drift away — which they are — those who are still with him are even stronger in their support.”

 

Mr. Trump faces further complications to a comeback, including an ongoing investigation in Georgia over his attempt to pressure state officials to overturn the election and an inquiry in New York into his business practices.

 

Betting against Mr. Trump’s hold on the G.O.P. has been a losing proposition, both for pundits and Republican rivals, for the better part of a decade, and he retains broad support in the party apparatus itself. As the Republican National Committee holds its winter meeting in the coming days in Salt Lake City, the party’s executive committee is expected to discuss behind closed doors whether to continue paying some of the former president’s personal legal bills.

 

Even some Trump-skeptical Republican strategists note that any softening of support has come after a year in which Mr. Trump did not seek to command public attention as thoroughly as he can.

 

He was back in the spotlight at Saturday’s Texas rally, an event that had the feel of a music festival, with anti-Biden chants of “Let’s go Brandon!” breaking out spontaneously. Amid the “Trump Won” flags, however, some conservative activists grumbled about the endorsement of Mr. Abbott, criticizing the governor’s early Covid-19 lockdowns and management of the border.

 

On stage, Mr. Abbott himself faced shouts of “RINO” — for “Republican in name only” — and some boos, which he overwhelmed by leading the crowd in a chant of “Let’s go Trump!”

 

In his remarks, Mr. Trump seemed to be guarding his far-right flank when he declared that, “if I run and I win,” he would consider pardoning people who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol last year.

 

One key split that has emerged between Mr. Trump and his base is over vaccines. He has been jeered at past appearances — both when urging supporters to get vaccinated and after he said he got a booster shot himself — and he now focuses on opposing federal mandates, while simultaneously trying to take credit for the speed of the vaccines’ arrival.

 

Mr. Trump notably avoided the word “vaccine” on Saturday, referring only to “Operation Warp Speed” — his administration’s effort to produce a vaccine.

 

Jennifer Winterbauer, who has “We the People” tattooed on her forearm, got to the Trump rally — her sixth — days in advance, sleeping in her truck to be among the first in line. She said she believed Mr. Trump was “sent by God to save this country.” Still, she disagrees with him on the vaccine.

 

“I don’t think he should be promoting it at all,” she said. “I’ve had Covid and I’ve had the flu, and the flu was much worse.”

 

Vaccine and Covid policies have also been the subject of simmering tensions with Mr. DeSantis, who has declined to say if he received a vaccine booster. Mr. Trump said “gutless” politicians dodge such questions.

 

Mr. Ruffini polled Mr. Trump vs. Mr. DeSantis last October and again this month. Then, Mr. Trump led by 40 percentage points; now, the margin is 25. But among Republicans familiar with both men, the gap was just 16 points, and narrower still, only nine points, among those who liked them both.

 

“His voters are looking at alternatives,” Mr. Ruffini said of Mr. Trump. While there is scant evidence of any desire for an anti-Trump Republican, Mr. Ruffini said, there is openness to what he called a “next-generation Trump candidate.”

 

At the Texas rally, David Merritt, a 56-year-old private contractor in a cowboy hat, described himself as “more of a Trump guy” than a Republican. But if he were not to run in 2024?

 

“Probably Ron DeSantis would be my next choice,” Mr. Merritt said. Because he was the most like Mr. Trump of the Republican candidates.

 

In Washington, Republican congressional leaders have diverged sharply in their approaches to Mr. Trump.

 

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House minority leader, has been solicitous, huddling with Mr. Trump for roughly an hour last Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago to talk over House races and the political landscape, according to people familiar with the meeting. Mr. McCarthy is seen as keeping Mr. Trump close as he seeks to win the majority for his party this fall and the speakership for himself.

 

In the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, is not on speaking terms with Mr. Trump, and his allies continue to court Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, an outspoken anti-Trump Republican, to run for Senate.

 

Beyond polling, Mr. Trump has repeatedly held up his “almost unblemished record” of primary endorsements as a barometer of his power. When Lou Dobbs, the pro-Trump media personality, asked Mr. Trump last week if the G.O.P. was still united behind him, he replied, “Well, I think so. Everybody I endorse just about wins.”

 

In North Carolina, Mr. Trump has promoted the Senate candidate he endorsed, Representative Ted Budd, by trying to convince Representative Mark Walker to abandon the primary and run for the House again. Mr. Walker threatens to divide the pro-Trump vote and help a third candidate, former Gov. Pat McCrory, a more traditional Republican.

 

On Thursday, Mr. Walker announced he was staying in the Senate race anyway.

 

Though Mr. Trump’s endorsements have sometimes been haphazard, despite ongoing efforts to formalize the process, few have drawn pushback more swiftly than his backing of Morgan Ortagus, who was an aide to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and was once floated as a possible White House press secretary.

 

Ms. Ortagus, with her family in tow, met with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago last Monday and discussed a Tennessee House seat for which she is not even an official candidate yet, according to three people familiar with the meeting; by the next evening, Mr. Trump had endorsed her unannounced run.

 

“Trump has this completely wrong,” Candace Owens, a prominent figure in pro-Trump media, wrote on Twitter.

 

Ms. Owens threw her support to Robby Starbuck, a rival candidate with ties to the Trump activist movement. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia quickly endorsed Mr. Starbuck, too, and Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, typically a staunch Trump ally, promoted one of Mr. Starbuck’s videos.

 

Gavin Wax, an outspoken pro-Trump activist and president of the New York Young Republican Club, who criticized the Ortagus and Abbott endorsements, said the political environment now made it possible to air such grievances. “It’s a lot easier to have these divisions begin to brew when he’s out of office,” Mr. Wax said of Mr. Trump.

 

“He still remains the top dog by a long shot, but who knows,” Mr. Wax said. “It’s one of those things where, a million cuts — it will eventually start to do damage.”

 

J. David Goodman contributed reporting from Conroe, Texas.

 

Shane Goldmacher is a national political reporter and was previously the chief political correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times, he worked at Politico, where he covered national Republican politics and the 2016 presidential campaign. @ShaneGoldmacher

Comment "Un chagrin français", le livre d’Anne Rosencher éclaire-t-il la campagne ?



Que nous arrive-t-il ? La République – « notre royaume de France », précisait Péguy – s’affaiblit. Elle semble prise en étau entre la montée d’une indifférence envers la chose commune et les assauts de minorités violentes ou vindicatives… Les uns murmurent : « Rien à cirer. » Les autres menacent ou terrorisent pour imposer leur loi.

 

Anne Rosencher cherche un remède à ce chagrin français, en disséquant trois expressions qui saturent la conversation publique. « Populisme », d’abord : terme à la fois imprécis et insultant, idéal pour disqualifier l’autre alors qu’il contient le beau mot de « peuple ». « Progressisme », ensuite, qui prétend que tout ce qui est neuf est mieux dans les façons d’aborder le féminisme et l’antiracisme. « Vivre-ensemble », enfin : expression incantatoire, répétée à l’envi pour dissimuler le déclin de l’universalisme républicain.

 

Mêlant témoignage personnel et carnets d’éditorialiste, Un chagrin français est avant tout une déclaration d’amour à la France, et un appel au courage collectif.

 

 

«Un chagrin français»: Anne Rosencher veut retrouver le sens des mots en politique

Paris Match | Publié le 15/01/2022 à 05h29

Bruno Jeudy

https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Politique/Un-chagrin-francais-Anne-Rosencher-veut-retrouver-le-sens-des-mots-en-politique-1781741

 

La directrice adjointe de « L’Express » s'appuie sur l'exemple de son grand-père polonais pour retrouver les mots de l'universalisme républicain.

 

Retrouver le sens des mots. Mis à toutes les sauces depuis deux décennies, les termes « populisme », « progressisme » et « vivre-ensemble » sont les impasses de notre société, selon la journaliste Anne Rosencher , qui signe un vivifiant essai. La directrice adjointe de « L’Express » ne ménage pas ces intellectuels et politiques qui abusent de « ces mots qui nous enferment ».

 

L’auteure regrette que « progressisme » n’ait plus vraiment à voir avec le progrès, que « populisme » ne serve qu’à disqualifier l’autre et que « vivre-ensemble » ne soit qu’une expression incantatoire face à l’effacement de l’universalisme républicain. Suivent dix-huit chapitres courts, argumentés et convaincants pour que la France retrouve le sens du collectif. Celui qui anima son grand-père, Juif polonais arrivé en France en 1920, engagé dans la France libre, capturé, torturé, déporté et libéré. Puis revenu pour « faire souche en France » et transmettre son identité et son amour du modèle français



 


Christiane Taubira ahead in French left’s unofficial primary

 

None of her rivals intend on dropping out.

 

BY PIERRE-PAUL BERMINGHAM

January 30, 2022 8:45 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/christiane-taubira-ahead-in-french-lefts-unofficial-primary/

 

PARIS — Former Justice Minister Christiane Taubira was proclaimed on Sunday the winner of an unofficial primary of the French left, a last-ditch attempt to rally left-leaning voters behind a single candidate ahead of the April presidential election.

 

However, that outcome is unlikely as other prominent candidates featuring on the ballot said before the vote that they would go on with their own campaigns whatever the result.

 

They include Green MEP Yannick Jadot, who finished in second position; far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third; and Socialist Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who obtained an embarrassing fifth place — voters could choose between seven names dubbed qualified to run by the primary’s organizers.

 

The “People’s Primary” was organized by young grassroots activists seeking to unite the French left, pitting the major left-wing candidates against each other, mostly against their will.

 

Christiane Taubira was the only major candidate to willfully engage in the primary, crafting her presidential bid on a gamble that she would emerge victorious. Having announced her run only in mid-January, though, she appears to only be adding a new candidacy to a fractured left.

 

Mélenchon, the best placed of left-leaning candidates, is currently polling at 10 percent, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, with none of his rivals making it to double-digit scores. Taubira is currently polling at 4 percent.

 

“Our common destiny calls for unity and rallying together,” said Taubira in her speech, promising to call all her rivals to discuss the terms of unity. “I will tell them I know their reticence, but also their intelligence,” she added, punctuating her speech as ever with rhymes. 

 

Stuck in the single-digits

Taubira, idolized by part of the French left for her morals and her poetic eloquence, served as Justice Minister under President François Hollande. She most famously carried the project to legalize same-sex marriage, before later resigning out of disagreements with the president and prime minister.

 

Organizers announced that close to 393,000 people voted, out of 467,000 who had signed up to vote, making it the primary with the highest number of participants in the 2022 presidential cycle. The environmentalists’ primary counted 122,000, while the closed primary of conservative party Les Républicains had 140,000.

 

In 2017, open primaries for the Socialist Party and Les Républicains, the two dominant political forces at the time, had gathered respectively 2 million and 4.4 million participants. Emmanuel Macron’s surprise ascension to power and final victory left both parties in shambles.

 

Voters in the People’s Primary were asked to score candidates using a novel system, grading each candidate on a five-point scale, from “lacking” to “very good.” This system, referred to as “majority judgment,” was inspired by a method used in wine tasting. As a result, Taubira obtained a final grade of “good +,” whereas Jadot was rated “fairly good +” and Mélenchon “fairly good -“. Hidalgo was rated “passable +,” just short of “lacking.”

 

The next steps remain unclear, with none of the major losing candidates likely to pull out of the presidential race.

La guerre Zemmour / Le Pen

London Playbook: Gray Day — [REDACTED] — Points East

 


London Playbook: Gray Day — [REDACTED] — Points East

BY ALEX WICKHAM

January 31, 2022 8:00 am

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/gray-day-redacted-points-east/

 

Good Monday morning.

 

DRIVING THE DAY

GRAY DAY: Sue Gray’s report into the Downing Street Partygate scandal is expected imminently, with Whitehall sources telling Playbook it will finally be handed to Boris Johnson and then published “early” this week, possibly as soon as today. The much-edited public version of Gray’s findings will be very different from what we might have seen if the Metropolitan Police hadn’t waded into the saga with their own investigation last week. Instead, she will only make “minimal reference” to the eight alleged parties the Met are probing. Nonetheless, it still represents the most serious threat to Johnson’s premiership so far and its release will at last move the story onto whether Conservative MPs are prepared to oust the prime minister from office. At the moment it feels like Playbook begins every Monday’s email by telling you how it will be another dramatic news week. Both at home and abroad, the stakes really don’t get much higher than what’s coming up over the next few days.

 

How Gray Day will happen: As this email goes out, Johnson still hasn’t received the report from Gray, although as far as Playbook can tell there is now nothing left to delay that from happening any longer. Everyone in government who Playbook spoke to over the weekend expects it to come very soon. When it does eventually appear on his desk, the PM will have a few hours to digest its contents and plan his response. The report will then be made available for the public to read on the gov.uk website and Johnson wants to make a statement to the Commons as soon as possible. The earliest that could realistically happen is this afternoon.

 

What it will say: Everyone not living under a rock now knows that Friday’s spectacular intervention by the Met brains trust means Gray won’t be publishing her full findings. She will not be able to go into detail on the potentially law-breaking events, which let’s face it are the juicy ones that pose the gravest danger to Johnson’s position. This may mean the report we see this week is somewhat underwhelming in terms of any shock revelations or damning findings. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will be totally neutered. Gray is likely to be able to publish what will inevitably be some stinging criticisms of the PM, his No. 10 team and the culture in the building.

 

How it lands: The language Gray chooses to use in these conclusions will be fundamental to what happens next. The publication of the report will kick off an incredibly tense and uncertain few hours where the reaction of Tory MPs will ultimately determine where the story goes. Johnson’s critics will of course seize upon any especially harsh words. Johnson’s supporters will talk up any areas where Gray may be more sympathetic. It is possible that the whole publication becomes mired in a row about process, such as the very reasonable question of what on earth is the point in publishing a report that leaves out any definitive findings on all the key charges. Expect to hear cries of a cover-up or worse from some opposition politicians. Johnson will inevitably argue that his fate as PM should not be decided before the police investigation concludes, quite possibly months from now.

 

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The PM’s response: When Johnson gets up at the despatch box, he will need to convince his MPs that he has a plan to win back an angry public and ensure that Downing Street functions properly for the rest of his time in office — in other words, that he can act on the conclusions of the Gray report. This will likely mean both personnel and policy changes. One Tory MP told Playbook yesterday that they would be satisfied if Johnson made a commitment to improving his top team and changing the policy direction of the government. “He needs to show he’s serious about change and has listened,” they said. The PM is reportedly considering a raft of structural changes to how Downing Street works, including possibly creating a new permanent secretary for No. 10, or bringing in a senior Tory MP to help with the day-to-day running of the building. Another MP said Johnson essentially had to demonstrate he would pursue more right-wing policies on tax and spending, Brexit, immigration and other issues — more on that in a bit.

 

Direction of travel: It is very difficult to predict how this is all going to go, however it has to be said No. 10 will be going into the week reassured on two fronts. They survived the Sunday papers, and indeed the long-read by the Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman reported that Johnson’s shadow operation has been effective and that the situation with Tory MPs has turned away from regicide toward working with Johnson. Shippers concluded: “A week ago it looked as if pigs would fly before Johnson’s position improved. MPs were metaphorically fattening him up for the kill. This weekend, though, Johnson’s team are hopeful that the fightback and machinations at the Met mean that, for now, he is one greased pig who will not be going to market.”

 

Are Tories shifting back? Crucially, this analysis was echoed by Paul Goodman, editor of the Tory “bible” Conservative Home, in an essential blog on Sunday. Goodman revealed that a majority of Tory members surveyed by his website now think Partygate is overblown, a marked improvement on a month ago. Critically, Goodman believes that shift is also reflected among Tory MPs. He writes: “My sense is that there has been a swingback in the Prime Minister’s favour among Conservatives MPs and Party members over the past fortnight. Why? First, the Tory MPs I’ve spoken to say by and large have had less correspondence about ‘partygate’ than about Dominic Cummings’ visit to Barnard Castle. It has faded away and this has influenced their view. Second, there is an unwillingness among many Party members to see Cummings’ campaign win. Plus a blob of Johnson’s Remain-fixated, Labour, media and other opponents. Third, the Prime Minister’s Commons ‘fightback’ whipping campaign, organised by his Ministerial and other supporters, will have had some effect. Finally, a killer blow, proving that Johnson himself actually organised a Downing Street party during lockdown, has been absent.”

 

How it could all go wrong: No. 10 will be watching nervously for three things. First, Cabinet resignations. If a potential leadership challenger like Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss were to quit and call for Johnson to go, that would likely trigger a flood of no confidence letters from Tory MPs. However, the chancellor wrote a joint op-ed with the PM in the Sunday Times after winning a major internal battle over the National Insurance rise, so it would be strange for him to resign 24 hours later. Similarly, the foreign secretary is due in Russia imminently for talks with the Kremlin about Ukraine, so it would be odd for her to quit beforehand. Then there’s the question of whether there’s a coordinated move from Tory backbenchers to send letters to 1922 committee Chair Graham Brady, or whether the letters are currently at a higher number than expected, and so tick over the 54 threshold required to trigger a confidence vote. Thirdly, there’s always the possibility of another strategically timed leak aimed at getting the letters over the line.

 

What it may come down to: A Tory MP told Playbook last night that the key question they’d be asking when they read Gray’s report would be: “Is there enough in her language that allows us to keep him?”

 

If the letters do hit 54 … then Conservative MPs will hold a confidence vote on Johnson’s future, as soon as 24 hours after the threshold is met. If Johnson were to lose that vote he would be out and a Tory leadership contest would follow.

 

If the letters don’t hit 54 … then Johnson would live to fight another day — the greased piglet would slip through — and he would likely be safe until the next crunch points: the conclusion of the police probe and the local elections in May.

 

What Tory MPs are watching: Last night’s Channel 4 documentary by Andrew Neil asked whether Johnson had “run out of road,” and included Leveling Up Secretary Michael Gove’s admission that: “The fact that there were mistakes that were made by people in positions of influence and prestige is incredibly difficult.” Former Brexit Minister David Frost told Neil “never say never” when asked if he fancied being the next No. 10 chief of staff. The Sun’s Harry Cole was first with that rumor though notes the drawbacks: Frost’s hardcore policy views and the bruising nature of his exit from government.

 

What Operation Fightback will be pushing: Red wall poster boy and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has the definitive piece making the case for Johnson to stay in Times Red Box. Houchen writes: “The nonsense of what’s happening within the parliamentary party is so infuriating. If they vote to get rid of Boris they’ll be voting to lose the next election … If Boris is removed, the opportunity before us to rebalance our economy and society will be lost. Even worse, the levelling up agenda would be dead. Indeed, a communicator without the current prime minister’s unique skills would be fighting to be heard over the sound of a north London commentariat with ears only for the infighting within the Conservative Party. Meanwhile, voters in left behind areas would tune out, seeing themselves cheated of the prime minister they chose as their own and listening again to the siren voices of other parties both to the left and to the right.”

 

Burns after reading: Operation Fightback lieutenant and long-term Johnson ally Conor Burns has a piece in the Sun making a similar argument. Burns gives us a taste of the sort of rhetoric we can expect from the PM this week: “This is a man in the prime of life who is fizzing with energy, steely in determination and with an agenda to improve the lives and communities of every person in every part of our great country. Armed with the 80 seat majority Sun readers gave him just two years ago he is up for it. His faith in the British people is absolute and his determination to deliver for you is total.”

 

The opposite view … came from Johnson’s former aide turned nemesis Dominic Cummings in an interview with Tanya Gold for New York Magazine. Cummings explained why he has been leading the campaign to remove Johnson, calling the PM a “complete f**kwit” and claiming it is his “duty to get rid” of him, comparing it to “fixing the drains.” He also claimed Johnson told him: “I’m the f**king king around here and I’m going to do what I want.” The interview has had a mixed reaction — one Tory MP told Playbook: “After the NY Magazine interview people are finally twigging this is all a Cummings revenge campaign that the left and the media have run with.”

 

Costa living crisis: The Times carries a piece from another former No. 10 aide, Nikki da Costa, who blasts her former colleagues for failing to be “honest and upfront” about the Downing Street parties, arguing No. 10 had “failed as a collective” to uphold the standards it set the rest of the country on COVID restrictions. Da Costa reveals that No. 10 had looked at setting up “bereavement bubbles” for those who’d lost loved ones around the time of the alleged parties, but decided against it as it would “sent the wrong message to the public.”

 

Now read this: Writing for POLITICO, Marie Le Conte considers why Brits are so obsessed with Partygate.

 

Poll watch: Get ready for all manner of snap polls and focus groups in the hours and days after Gray drops, which Tory MPs will no doubt be poring over. In the meantime, Deltapoll finds Labour now leads on the “holy trinity” of Westminster voter intention, economic competence and leadership approval ratings. The Mirror’s Pippa Crerar has the story.

 

 

Playbook Paris: Taubira première de la classe — La colle primaire — Bay tease

 


Playbook Paris: Taubira première de la classe — La colle primaire — Bay tease

BY PAULINE DE SAINT REMY AND JULIETTE DROZ

January 31, 2022 7:00 am

 

POLITICO Playbook Paris

Par PAULINE DE SAINT REMY et JULIETTE DROZ

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/playbook-paris/taubira-premiere-de-la-classe-la-colle-primaire-bay-tease/

 

Bonjour à tous et à toutes, bon réveil, nous sommes lundi 31 janvier 2022.

 

PREMIÈRE DE CLASSE

PAS DE REVERS POUR TAUBIRA. Au terme d’un suspense tout à fait soutenable, l’ancienne Garde des Sceaux Christiane Taubira a remporté la Primaire populaire en décrochant la mention “Bien +”. Elle a obtenu cette note grâce aux 79% des près de 393 000 votants lui ayant donné une mention allant d'”assez bien” à “très bien”. Elle arrive sans surprise en tête devant Yannick Jadot (assez bien +, avec 66% de jugements positifs mais seulement 22% de “très bien”, contre 49% pour Taubira), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (assez bien -), Pierre Larrouturou (passable +), Anne Hidalgo (passable +), Charlotte Marchandise et Anna Agueb-Porterie, dont la candidature a majoritairement été jugée “insuffisante” mais qui, fort heureusement, n’a pas été envoyée au coin pour autant.

 

Pour les matheux ou ceux que les subtilités du scrutin au jugement majoritaire passionnent : Le Parisien vous a compilé et infographié les résultats.

 

AMBIANCE. C’est au Point Ephémère, bar branchouille du 10e arrondissement, que Taubira avait choisi de réunir ses soutiens, à partir de 18 heures. Le lieu, plus connu pour ses concerts électro que pour ses raouts politiques, ayant l’avantage non négligeable de n’être qu’à trois arrêts de métro de la soirée organisée au même moment par la Primaire populaire — pas inutile pour y passer une tête en cas de victoire.

 

En attendant. Playbook y a traîné ses moufles avant l’annonce des résultats, se faufilant, avec plusieurs dizaines de partisans, dont quelques rares porteurs de pancartes, à l’intérieur d’une minuscule salle un peu tristoune. Sur l’estrade, un pupitre et deux kakémonos bleus siglés d’un soleil et du slogan “avec Taubira 2022”, égayaient un peu l’ambiance, quand en contrebas, de jeunes partisans commençaient à se ronger les ongles, rafraîchissant frénétiquement sur leur téléphone le stream YouTube de la Primaire populaire.

 

Tous pour une. C’est vers 19 heures que l’ex-chef de file des frondeurs socialistes, période Hollande, Christian Paul, a traversé l’estrade au pas de course. Masque baissé l’espace d’un instant, large sourire et pouce levé, il a aussitôt rejoint un petit groupe, à droite de la scène. Playbook y a aperçu, réunis, ceux qui devraient constituer le noyau dur de la future campagne.

 

Le placide Elie Patrigeon, ancien du cab de Taubira quand elle était à la Chancellerie. Le discret directeur de campagne et actuel maire adjoint de Créteil, Axel Urgin, dont Playbook vous révélait les nouvelles fonctions. Le patron du PRG, Guillaume Lacroix, les yeux brillants, l’adjointe à la mairie de Marseille, Olivia Fortin et enfin l’ancien député PS Daniel Goldberg, croisé quelques minutes avant le verdict et qui n’arrivait pas à masquer sa joie.

 

Spotted aussi,au pied de l’estrade, l’imposante carrure d’Eric Plumer, l’une des figures historiques du parti socialiste, époque Solfé. Celui qu’on surnomme “Jaurès” et qui fut pendant 17 ans le chef du service d’ordre du PS (avant de se faire remercier après la débâcle de 2017 ) roule désormais pour Taubira, a appris Playbook. “Quand on a Jaurès avec soi, comment voulez-vous qu’on perde ? ironisait hier soir un soutien de la candidate.

 

Social triste. Quelques minutes après les proches donc, les militants, eux aussi apprenaient la nouvelle, un écran installé à la hâte leur dévoilant les résultats, dans une effusion de joie, d’embrassades et de “Taubira présidente”. La cinquième place arrachée par Anne Hidalgo a, quant à elle, fait abondamment jaser plusieurs participants à la soirée, dont d’anciens encartés socialistes, aperçus en train de remonter les commentaires sur le fil WhatsApp d’une fédé PS parisienne. “L’histoire retiendra qu’elle était derrière Pierre Larrouturou”, a lancé l’un d’eux à son camarade, ce dernier ajoutant, “C’est une mascarade, elle est complètement discréditée”.

 

L’appel. En rouge et noir, Christiane Taubira a affiché son cœur dans un discours d’une vingtaine de minutes à ses partisans. Citant, comme elle en a l’habitude, tantôt René Char, tantôt Aimé Césaire, elle a remercié le presque demi-million de citoyens qui a “décidé de faire irruption dans cette campagne” pour “offrir à la gauche l’élan qui permet de construire des victoires essentielles”. L’ex-ministre a surtout lancé dans la foulée un vibrant appel aux militants de gauche et aux élus “de terrain” à la rejoindre, égrenant dans une liste sans fin les socialistes “restés fidèles à leurs idéaux”, les écologistes “lanceurs d’alerte”, les communistes et “leur belle histoire ouvrière et industrielle”, sans oublier une allusion aux Insoumis et à leur “esprit… d’insubordination”.

 

LA COLLE PRIMAIRE

CIRCULEZ. Questionnés sur les plateaux télé, Mélenchon, Jadot et Hidalgo, tous trois candidats et battus à leur corps défendant, ont chacun évacué le sujet en quelques mots. “Elle a enfilé la chaussure qui a été créée pour elle”, a d’abord banalisé l’Insoumis à propos de Taubira, au micro de C’est dans l’air, ajoutant ne pas être “concerné” et en avoir “un peu marre des appels téléphoniques” — Taubira ayant annoncé son intention d’appeler chacun de ses concurrents de gauche. Jadot, au 20 heures de TF1, à la question de savoir s’il avait quelque chose à dire à la nouvelle candidate officielle, c’est contenté de dire “rien”. “Ça aurait pu être un moment de rassemblement de toute la gauche, c’est une candidature de plus”, a enfin lâché la maire de Paris, alors que ses proches avaient enclenché le mode avion, hier soir, après les résultats.

 

Sauf qu’au PS, la pilule passe mal. Et la pression s’annonce forte sur la candidate, bien que son pôle communication, qui s’était réuni en fin de journée, n’ait pas manqué d’envoyer son programme de la semaine, peu avant 1 heure du matin, histoire de faire savoir que la campagne se poursuit. “Ses aller-retour sur la primaire ont crée du rejet…” se désolait via WhatsApp un membre du bureau national, pourtant impliqué dans la campagne.

 

Décidée à temporiser, la direction du parti, qui devait se réunir hier soir pour faire le point, d’après Le Figaro, n’a pas réagi tout de suite. Sa numéro 2, Corinne Narassiguin, a toutefois confié au quotidien que si “le processus” n’était pas celui souhaité par le PS, il fallait “respecter les centaines de milliers de citoyens qui ont cherché dans ce scrutin une solution pour que la gauche existe encore à cette présidentielle”. Comprenne qui pourra…

 

Ça cogne Faure. Il faut dire qu’avec le premier secrétaire en particulier, l’ambiance était déjà glaciale depuis qu’Hidalgo avait renoncé à participer à la primaire, après avoir elle-même proposé d’en être, en décembre (lire Playbook pour vous replonger quelques semaines en arrière). Un tweet de la maire a d’ailleurs fait piapiater sur les boucles socialistes, ce week-end, a ouï dire votre infolettre. La candidate y relaye le communiqué issu de la réunion à Saint-Ouen de plusieurs dizaines de cadres du parti, sous la bannière “Debout les socialistes”, du nom du courant de l’ex-concurrente de Faure au congrès, Hélène Geoffroy. Outre qu’ils redisent leur soutien à la maire de Paris pour la présidentielle, ceux-ci attaquent surtout sévèrement Faure et sa bande : “Les militants socialistes ont souligné la nécessité de mettre un coup d’arrêt à la pente de l’effacement suivie depuis 2017 par l’actuelle direction nationale”, peut-on y lire.

 

CRISE AU RN

BAY TEASE. Nicolas Bay a défrayé la chronique à son tour ce week-end, après que Marion Maréchal a fait savoir via Le Parisien, vendredi, qu’elle ne soutiendrait pas sa tante à la présidentielle, avant d’évoquer samedi son “penchant” pour Eric Zemmour, dans Le Figaro. Interviewé le même jour par BFM TV depuis Madrid où il était en déplacement avec Marine Le Pen, l’eurodéputé et porte-parole de la candidate du RN, proche de Maréchal, n’a en effet pas voulu dire clairement qu’il serait présent à ses côtés jusqu’au premier tour.

 

Le Pen gronde. Le petit numéro d’équilibriste télévisé n’a pas échappé à l’attention de Le Pen ni de son entourage — qui n’ont, précisons-le, jamais placé une grande confiance en Bay, dont personne n’a oublié dans les rangs du parti qu’il avait suivi Bruno Mégret lors de la scission de 1998. Drame, donc, au moment de repartir vers l’aéroport, où quelques amabilités ont été lâchées, comme l’a rapporté BFM : “C’est quoi tes valeurs Nicolas ? La loyauté ? Barre-toi maintenant plutôt que de bouffer le plus longtemps possible au râtelier”, lui aurait notamment balancé l’attachée de presse de la candidate, Caroline Parmentier — ce qu’elle a d’ailleurs confirmé à l’AFP par la suite. “Ceux qui veulent partir partent” a tonné Le Pen, quant à elle, face caméra.

 

Pas de quoi ébranler l’eurodéputé, qui, de retour à Paris, n’est pas revenu sur sa position, au Grand Jury de RTL, où il a expliqué “ne pas avoir à [se] justifier de ce [qu’il] ferait dans un mois, six mois, un an”, et ajouté ne pas considérer Zemmour “comme un ennemi”. Un propos d’ailleurs relayé sur Twitter par une de ses camarades de banc, Maxette Pirbakas, fréquemment citée parmi les potentiels prochains élus RN à franchir le Rubicon.

 

Chandeleur. A noter que le patriarche, lui, a certes redit sa “sympathie” pour Zemmour mais surtout affirmé son soutien à sa fille sur LCI, hier, alors qu’il était attendu chez elle un peu plus tard dans l’après-midi pour… manger des crêpes.

 

GOLLNISCH RESTE. Au programme de sa journée, Marine Le Pen déjeunera notamment tout à l’heure avec Bruno Gollnisch, à l’occasion d’un rendez-vous à l’Ambassade du Japon. S’il a des choses à dire sur la campagne — et les lui dira, a-t-il assuré à votre infolettre hier soir, d’un ton entendu — l’ancien directeur de campagne de Jean-Marie Le Pen assure que lui ne quittera pas le bateau au moment où il “tangue”. Il se dit surtout “gêné” par “les ralliements à Zemmour de ceux qui doivent tout” à la candidate et n’ont pas renoncé à leurs fonctions. Gollnisch ne dit rien de Mégret, désormais soutien officiel de l’ancien polémiste, mais n’hésite pas à pointer du doigt le reste de l’entourage et notamment un certain ex-LR passé par les rangs du FN et du MNR de Mégret : “Je ne suis pas trop pressé de me retrouver avec Monsieur Peltier, qui lui est passé par toutes les cases…”

 

RÉU DE MADRID. Marine Le Pen, le Premier ministre hongrois Viktor Orbán et son homologue polonais Mateusz Morawiecki faisaient partie des leaders nationalistes européens réunis à Madrid, ce week-end, à l’invitation du parti espagnol Vox, comme vous le racontait Playbook vendredi. Sans grande surprise, leurs pourparlers en vue de la constitution d’une alliance souveraino-nationaliste européenne ne se sont conclus que par une déclaration d’intentions, signée par neuf partis présents seulement, dans laquelle il est question renforcer la coopération entre elles, notamment sur le sujet des migrations.

 

Un semi-flop, donc, après celui du mois de décembre, que les photo-calls n’auront pas suffi à masquer. Il faut dire que les divisions restent nombreuses. Un seul exemple : ma collègue Lili Bayer a réussi à jeter un œil indiscret à la déclaration finale telle qu’elle a circulé entre les délégations au départ, constatant qu’on pouvait y lire que “les actions militaires russes à la frontière orientale de l’Europe nous ont mené au bord de la guerre”, et que la “solidarité, la détermination et la coopération entre les nations européennes sont nécessaires face à de tels dangers”. Un passage… disparu du texte tel que retranscrit par Le Pen sur son site de campagne. Divergence de vue assumée, nous a répondu son entourage hier soir.

 

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