New favourite to be France’s next President Francois Fillon is Thatcher-loving Anglophile married to a Welsh woman
After helping knock out Nicolas Sarkozy the former PM will have a key role in Brexit negotiations if he wins next March
AFTER pulling off a shock victory in last night’s primary Francois Fillion has emerged as the favourite to be France’s next President.
The former Prime Minister came from nowhere to win the first round of voting as the Republican party chooses their candidate for March’s election.
In the process he helped knock Nicolas Sarkozy out of the race, with the ex-President coming third behind Mr Fillion and Alain Juppe.
Having been trailing in the polls he ended up with almost 45% of the votes, and will now face Mr Juppe – another former PM – in a run-off later this week.
With Francois Hollande’s Socialist party currently polling so badly it is expected whoever wins will face the far-right Front national leader Marine Le Pen in a head to head contest for France’s top job.
Mr Fillion, 62, has had a long career in politics, holding various ministerial positions dating back to the early 1990s.
When Mr Sarkozy was in office he was his Prime Minister for five years until 2012, with the President once belittling him by describing him as my “employee”.
RELATED STORIES:
But Mr Fillion has had his revenge, effectively ending Sarko’s career with yesterday’s primary defeat.
In his concession speech Mr Sarkozy said he was now backing Mr Fillion, telling his supporters: "I failed to convince a majority of voters."
An admirer of Mrs Thatcher, he is the most pro-Russia of the presidential candidates, and takes a hard line against Islamist terrorism, having published a book with the title Beating Islamic Totalitarianism.
He is a tea-drinking Anglophile, having spent time at Downing Street during Tony Blair’s tenure, saying he was impressed by New Labour’s “informal “ style.
The son of a notary, he is married to a Welshwoman called Penelope after the pair met when she was teaching English in her gap year in Le Mans, where Mr Fillon is from.
After being married in her family church in Lllanover they now live with their five children in a 12th-century chateau set in 20 acres of woodland in north-west France.
On the economy he is pro-business and would look to make reforms such as tax cuts and create a less rigid labour market.
He would also make cuts to the welfare state and the civil service, and his supporter fear his socially conservative approach lacks the broad appeal of the more centrist Mr Juppe.
But most importantly to a British audience he ha spoken about his desire for a “quickie divorce” on Brexit, saying it must be “serene but it should be fast”.
He will play a key role in the UK’s negotiations with the EU, saying he hopes to maintain a defence agreement – but in comments that will spook the City he says there is “no reason to give them European financial passport”.