France's Sarkozy warms to far-right leader Marine Le Pen in prison memoir

Ex-president was welcomed in prison to shouts of 'we'll avenge Qaddafi'

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy as he headed to La Sante Prison on a five-year prison sentence. EPA

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's new book, Diary of a Prisoner, has suggested that an alliance between the traditional right and the far right is inevitable – a major taboo in France.

Still an influential figure in conservative politics, Sarkozy wrote his latest book, published on Wednesday, during the 20 days he spent in a Paris prison last month. He was greeted by cries of “we'll avenge Qadaffi” from fellow inmates after being found guilty of criminal association in financing his 2007 campaign with funds from Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

Sarkozy's analysis of French politics has triggered interest as politicians have already started positioning themselves in the 2027 presidential race. Outgoing president Emmanuel Macron will not be able to run after serving two consecutive terms.

Among Sarkozy's strongest supporters during his time behind bars was far-right leader Marine Le Pen. On X, Le Pen expressed her “disgust” after videos emerged of prisoners taunting Sarkozy.

Marine Le Pen watches a questions to a government session at the French National Assembly in Paris. EPA

Unity call

In his book, Sarkozy describes a phone call with Le Pen, who was barred in March from running in the 2027 presidential election due to a corruption trial. She told him: “Your voice carries weight with the popular electorate; would you join any kind of republican front?” – a reference to traditional political parties historically allying against the far-right to limit its gains.

Sarkozy wrote that he answered “without ambiguity”: “No, and moreover, I will take responsibility for it by taking a public position on the subject when the time comes.” Further in the book, he wrote: “The path to rebuilding the right can only be achieved through the broadest possible spirit of unity, without exclusion or condemnation.”

While there have been indications that politicians from Sarkozy's political party, Les Republicains, have been tempted to rally behind the far-right – as did ex-party president Eric Ciotti last year – a similar move by Sarkozy would represent an “unprecedented turnaround”, daily Le Monde wrote in an op-ed. In July, Sarkozy met Le Pen's right-hand man, Jordan Bardella, who is rumoured to replace her in the presidential race if her conviction is upheld.

Sarkozy's mentor, former president Jacques Chirac, who died in 2019, had stuck to the “cordon sanitaire” between the traditional right, founded by Second World War resistance figure Charles de Gaulle, and the far right, which was created in the 1970s by Nazi sympathisers. The far right “will never change”, Mr Chirac wrote in his memoirs.

Jacques Chirac, left, was the mentor of Nicolas Sarkozy. AP Photo

Sarkozy's overture to the far right contrasts with his calls in 2018 to rally Mr Macron's centrist party. Relations between the two men are at an all-time low since the President stripped Sarkozy of his Legion of Honour, the country's highest distinction, following his conviction.

However, Sarkozy wrote that he appreciated an invitation by Mr Macron to the Elysee palace two days before his imprisonment, for a four-hour discussion. President Macron “displayed an impressive, likeable energy, but one that seemed to me both too late and, above all, rather disorganised”, Sarkozy wrote. He added: “His main concern was for my safety in prison. It was high time he addressed that.”

Sarkozy has appealed against his conviction in the Libya funding case, as has Le Pen in her corruption case, meaning both politicians are innocent under French law until the retrial.

Sarkozy has been separately sentenced for illegally financing his 2012 campaign bid and for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about legal proceedings in which he was involved.