Ségolène Royal widened divisions in the French left yesterday by praising Emmanuel Macron, the independent presidential candidate seen by the Socialist Party as a traitor.
Ms Royal, the former partner of President Hollande and now the environment minister, suggested that she might support Mr Macron, who quit the Socialist government last autumn to launch his own movement.
“Emmanuel is looking to the future,” she told the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, inviting immediate speculation that Mr Hollande may end up backing the man widely seen to have stabbed him in the back. Her words were a fresh blow to the seven leftwingers standing in a primary election next week to choose the Socialist candidate in the spring election.
The frontrunner, the former prime minister Manuel Valls, 54, defended his record in office last night during a TV debate with his rivals Arnaud Montebourg, 54, Benoît Hamon, 49, Vincent Peillon, 56, and three minor candidates.
Mr Peillon attacked him for taking just 5,000 refugees from other European countries. “History will prove us right,” said Mr Valls, who clashed with Mr Hamon over the latter’s call to legalise cannabis. “We need limits in society,” he said.
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Commentators described the debate as dull, with Le Figaro saying that the “shadow of Emmanuel Macron” hung over it. According to an instant poll Mr Hamon won the debate among left-wing voters and Mr Valls came second.
The Socialist candidates fear that the primary may prove to be waste of time because Mr Macron, 38, who is not even taking part, will emerge as the unofficial champion of the centre-left. “Emmanuel is the only one who can win for the left,” Ms Royal, 63, said.
The lack of interest in the Socialist debate was underlined when it emerged that even Mr Hollande was not watching it. He had decided to go to the theatre instead, to watch a one-man show. Aides said that he had watched the first debate last week but turned off his television before the end.
Polls suggest that Mr Macron has an outside chance of defeating the favourites in the presidential race: François Fillon, 62, the opposition centre-right Republicans candidate, and Marine Le Pen, 48, the National Front leader.
Ms Royal said she would throw her weight “behind the candidate who will be in the best position to unite people”.