The latest scandal to hit France reveals the hypocrisy of the country’s politicians

Former French prime minister Francois Fillon may be at the centre of a corruption trial but there is widespread antipathy towards allegations of wrongdoing, writes Nabila Ramdani

Fillon and his wife Penelope will be defending themselves against corruption charges (Reuters)

The family life of the conservative politician who was once a shoo-in to become president of France will be at the centre of a corruption trial due to be opening in Paris on Monday. Francois Fillon and his British-born wife, Penelope Fillon, will be defending themselves against charges that could see them handed multiple prison sentences.

They are both devout Catholics who pride themselves on their moral compass and deny any wrongdoing. But Ms Fillon, a mother of four, is alleged to have taken on fake jobs – including pretending to be her husband’s parliamentary assistant – so as to steal around a million euros in unearned cash, most of it belonging to taxpayers.

Mr Fillon, a former prime minister, was a Republican – the latest incarnation of the Gaullist party that is meant to represent the upright politics of wartime leader and former president Charles de Gaulle. His fall from grace – one that was the decisive factor in him losing the 2017 presidential election to Emmanuel Macron – could not be more humiliating.

Judges and a jury will decide on the couple’s guilt or innocence, but what is certain is that they would not be in court at all were it not for leaked information from still undisclosed sources, initially to Le Canard Enchaine, the investigative weekly.

This infuriates many right-wing members of France’s notoriously sleazy political establishment who believe that strict privacy laws and other repressive measures – including increased government control of the internet – are necessary to protect them from excessive scrutiny.

Even in the land of Je Suis Charlie – a so-called progressive republic that supposedly encourages everybody to expose and mock – there is a distinct antipathy towards revelations of dubious provenance, even if they are verified. This rank hypocrisy is by no means confined to the declining forces of traditional French conservatism, either.

Politicians of all persuasions are currently rallying around Benjamin Griveaux, the close Macron ally who withdrew his candidacy to become mayor of Paris following the leaking of a video divulging his illicit sexual adventures.

The footage was first posted on a little viewed blog alongside quotes by Griveaux, who is married with three children, that focus on his “fanatical faith in family values”. It inevitably quickly spread across numerous social media platforms, and the media buzz soon turned into a political crisis.

Two suspects have been arrested and face prison over the leak and – astonishing as it might sound – one is Alexandra de Taddeo, the law student who was involved in an extramarital affair with Griveaux.

It was Griveaux who sent De Taddeo the film of him performing a sex act, yet she faces two years in prison and a fine equivalent to around £50,000 if found guilty of “invading” Griveaux’s private life and “disseminating sexual content without the participant’s consent”. She denies the allegations.

There are calls to fight the “Americanisation of French public life” – as Griveaux supporters put it – with even stricter laws, and with tighter government control of the internet.

There is no doubt that the graphic Griveaux images are disgusting, and unfit for public broadcast. But there is also a very strong argument that anybody who shares such unpleasant material – with the very likely result that it will one day get into the wrong hands (as it has) – should not be seeking public office as a self-styled role model.

Crucially, the Griveaux video was not actually published by any mainstream news outlet, but merely reported on. The fact that it existed was enough to prompt Griveaux’s resignation.

The sensationalist claim by some commentators that Griveaux was the first politician in France’s modern history to resign because his sex life had been disclosed in this manner is absolutely wrong too.

Luc Lemonnier, the mayor of Le Havre and also a Republican who was married with four children, quit last year after he had exchanged nude photos of himself with women in the port city.

As in all these cases, there are plenty of conspiracy theories. The suspect arrested alongside De Taddeo was a notorious far-Left Russian dissident called Petr Pavlensky, who is her new partner. This is significant because the Macron administration has – like others – frequently complained about troll character assassinations being orchestrated from Moscow.

Just as intriguingly, Griveaux started his career working for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former Socialist politician who had to resign from his job as International Monetary Fund chief because of allegations that he had sexually assaulted a chamber maid in a New York hotel room.

Charges were eventually dropped, and Strauss-Kahn also successfully fought claims that he abused women in France, but he paid an undisclosed civil settlement to his accuser in America. Although not found guilty of any crimes, he owned up to various reckless sexual improprieties that made any future role in public life untenable.

Sex and finance have been weaponised throughout the centuries to tear public figures down. Those who use them operate in a particularly murky world, and that is why nobody yet knows who was really responsible for bringing down Strauss-Kahn, Griveaux or Fillon. A fair conclusion may well be that all were entirely responsible for their own conduct and thus their own denouement.

What we know for certain, however, is that there was a compelling public interest defence for the voting public knowing what these politicians were trying to keep secret. The disclosures made this possible. In this sense, leaks are an essential part of a functioning democracy. They should be encouraged, not suppressed.