Pierre Mauroy

The former first secretary of the Socialist Party and one-time presidential hopeful Martine Aubry has recently made a return to national politics in France. In a series of media interventions the mayor of the northern city of Lille has made clear her dismay at the direction taken by François Hollande's socialist government. But Aubry's return to frontline politics could yet be overshadowed by a judicial investigation into how a false document was used to justify the award of a multi-million euro contract to build a major sports stadium in Lille that will feature in the Euro 2016 football tournament. Though the investigation was recently and unexpectedly closed, Mediapart can now reveal the existence of an embarrassing letter written by Martine Aubry that shows she passed on the fraudulent document to councillors. Geoffrey Livolsi reports.

Pierre Mauroy, who has died aged 84 after battling lung cancer, became in 1981 the first socialist prime minister under France's Fifth Republic. For many the man with working class roots from the north of the country epitomised both a deeply-felt and a pragmatic form of socialism. Mediapart's Antoine Perraud assesses the life of a politician who oversaw radical reforms in one of the most eventful periods of modern French politics.