Valérie Pécresse, the centre-right Republicans presidential candidate, pledged to fight immigration, Islamism and cancel culture in a hardline speech yesterday designed to revive a stuttering campaign, reports The Times.
At a rally in Paris touted as a pivotal moment in her attempt to replace President Macron in the April election, Pécresse, 54, sought to depict herself as a tough leader who would defend France’s interests on the world stage as Margaret Thatcher had defended those of Britain and Angela Merkel had done in Germany.
Yet her 80-minute speech included a passage unlikely to have been delivered by either Thatcher or Merkel when she fought back tears as she proclaimed her “mad love” for Jérôme Pécresse, 54, her husband, and their three grown-up children, Baptiste, Clément and Émilie.
Pécresse’s opponents, but also political commentators, said the much-touted speech had been a flop, with her appearing ill at ease as she outlined policies that often seemed to be drawn from the manifestos of her far-right rivals.
Supporters of Eric Zemmour, 63, the anti-Islam pundit standing in the election, said she had come across as a pale version of their own champion.
The rally, which drew more than 7,000 Republicans party activists, came with doubts growing over her chances of becoming France’s first ever female head of state.
The latest poll, published Sunday by Le Figaro newspaper, credited Macron, 44, with 25 per cent of the vote in the first round of the election, ahead of Marine Le Pen, 53, the leader of the far-right National Rally, on 16.5 per cent, Pécresse on 15.5 per cent and Zemmour with 14.5 per cent.