SECRETLY, HE HATES THE POOR

BEFORE he became President of France, I deliberately took François to visit poverty-stricken suburbs. After all, I’m a girl of the suburbs myself, from a working-class background in Angers in the west of France. I wanted him to be familiar with the daily lives of citizens who count every single euro — as I’ve always done — and worry about how to make ends meet. As he was already well-known, François disguised himself by donning a cap and sunglasses on our forays to discount shops that sold items with fast-approaching sell-by dates. But there’s no denying he felt out of place. Although he’s made himself out to be a Socialist politician who doesn’t like rich people, in truth he doesn’t like the poor. Privately, he calls them ‘the toothless’ — he’s even proud of this little bon mot. Meanwhile, François wants the best of everything for himself — and only the very best. Indeed, he’s the sort of person who’d rather not have a meal at all if it’s not first-rate. He wouldn’t eat strawberries unless they were tasty gariguettes — a variety grown in the south; he didn’t eat potatoes unless they came from Noirmoutier in the west; and he wouldn’t think twice of throwing meat in the bin if it had been purchased vacuum-packed. Nor did he have much concept of the cost of living. I was always hearing him say: ‘That’s a fair price,’ for food or items that were hideously over-priced. The difference in our social backgrounds was glaring. He’d tease me gently about this, even nicknaming me Cosette — after the little pauper in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. But it wasn’t any wonder that François failed to understand my hang-ups about money; he’d gone through life never wanting for anything, whereas I’d been one of six children brought up on my father’s meagre invalidity pension. François enjoyed dining out in fancy restaurants, while I favoured bistros; he liked luxury hotels, while I was happy with a simple inn. The only thing he stinted on was clothes, which he bought from supermarkets. These were so grim that, when we moved in together, I donated most of them to a charity for the homeless.