Now two of Macron’s ministers face rape trials

EMMANUEL Macron gave his full backing to a senior minister accused of raping a girl of 17.

The French president said there was no possibility of ecology secretary Nicolas Hulot, 62, resigning unless he was charged. Mr Hulot’s accuser was said to be the ‘granddaughter of a famous politician’.

It means that there are now two members of the French government facing the possibility of rape trials. Budget minister Gerald Darmanin, 35, is accused of attacking a married former call girl, but has kept his job.

An aide to Mr Macron and prime minister Edouard Philippe said: ‘There is a point of law clearly established … if there is no indictment, there is no need for a resignation.’

Neither man has denied sexual relations with their alleged victims, but insist that everything was legal.

Mr Hulot says his accuser ‘was not a minor’ when he was said to have slept with her in 1997. She went to police in 2008, but Mr Hulot said: ‘The investigators considered that there was nothing there to prosecute.’

Mr Darmanin is the subject of a preliminary inquiry into ‘abuse of power’ and rape.