French socialists face rift after ex-leader attacks Hollande

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The former first secretary of the French Socialist Party (PS), Martine Aubry, has launched a ferocious attack on the policies of President François Hollande and his prime minister Manuel Valls. Her trenchant comments in an article in Le Monde – seen by some as a call by Hollande to ditch his prime minister - in turn led to bitter criticism of her stance from government loyalists. It remains unclear where Aubry's initiative will lead. But as Mediapart's Stéphane Alliès reports, it looks as if support for the socialist government could now be in a minority within the Socialist Party itself.

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The former first secretary of France's ruling Socialist Party Martine Aubry has stirred up a major row on the Left after she made a stinging attack on the government of President François Hollande and his prime minister Manuel Valls. Writing in Le Monde newspaper, Aubry, who is mayor of the northern city of Lille, said that the pair were in danger of “permanently weakening France” with their policies.