Gérald Darmanin even wanted to keep Elisabeth Borne at Matignon, that is to say if he did not see his time coming. In what world would Emmanuel Macron, a follower of Prime Ministers-collaborators, choose a man like him, a politician among politicians, one year from the Olympic Games? He’s not his type, so even if it means not being promoted, he might as well plead the status quo and not reshuffle the cards with which he had learned to play. Only, the door was ajar: before the end of the “hundred days”, in the first two weeks of July, the Darmanin hypothesis gained weight in the mind of the President of the Republic when his Minister of Interior leads a forced march campaign. “The president let Gérald believe that it was going to do it”, slips a member of the government; “It was accentuated for Gérald, he held the rope”, assures another minister of weight. The cabinets of Beauvau are in turmoil, the advisers refrain from leaving Paris even for a few days for the weekend, you never know. If this is ever going to happen, this one has happened.
Act I. The disappointment
Alexis Kohler, the powerful secretary general of the Elysée, has a time shown going for the appointment of Gérald Darmanin, before turning around. A few Macronist leaders, of the first vintage, the believers of the beginnings sometimes a bit disillusioned, knocked on his door or dialed his number to try to understand this sudden interest. Even, to reason “the twin of the Elysée”. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The alliance with the right is impossible, what do we gain with Gérald at Matignon? Gérald is the most divisive of ministers, are we sure we want to risk a blow from public opinion? The arguments were ground.
Raising of shields. In the enlarged Macronie, many have played a little game, much more muted than televised: Everyone has a good reason to oppose Darmanin. The historic (therefore socialist) channel of Macronie – from the boss of Renaissance Stéphane Séjourné to the ex-president of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand, via the former Elysian councilor Philippe Grangeon – weighed with all its weight with ‘Emmanuel Macron to avoid a helm on the right. “We must not underestimate the fierce left opposition that Gérald knows within Macronie, points out one of his longtime friends. Before thinking about what is good for the country, they think about what is good for them. They get pimples as soon as they hear the words ‘Gerald’ or ‘LR’.”
The president of the MoDem François Bayrou, for his part, gags as soon as he considers that the Sarkozyist sector is getting too close to power; as for Edouard Philippe and his friends, they had no desire to see another crocodile grow in the backwater of the presidential candidates. On July 17, Emmanuel Macron keeps Elisabeth Borne lip service and puts an end to the hopes of Gérald Darmanin.
If it was just him. The profiles of the new entrants to the government during this mini-reshuffle hardly pleased the friends of Gérald Darmanin, who saw in it an entry in force of the left wing of Renaissance. And that’s nothing compared to the profiles of the failed: “All those close to Gérald were shot by Elisabeth”, loose a minister close to the tenant of Matignon. The deputy of Yvelines Maud Bregeon, very prominent in the media and pushed by the leaders of the parliamentary group to replace Olivier Véran as spokesperson, came up against the veto of the renewed Prime Minister. The same goes for the lieutenant of Val-de-Marne Mathieu Lefèvre or the Girondin Florent Boudié. “It shows that Elisabeth is neither naive nor weak, ironically another minister, from the left. They wanted to see her do politics, well she does politics: she has exactly in mind those who supported… and those who attacked his job.”
If in the inner circle of the Minister of the Interior, we swear that he is not a man to feel sorry for himself, one of his followers willingly concedes: “There could have been a real political moment , a change of course symbolized by Gérald. And political moments, like dishes, rarely come back twice. This can generate frustration, but resentment will not last very long, we are still early in the five-year term…”
Act II. Revenge
Gérald Darmanin’s silences are often the most telling. While accompanying the President of the Republic in New Caledonia, on the other side of the globe, the interview of the Director General of the National Police, Frédéric Veaux, sets fire between the police institution and the judicial institution . The DGPN declares in The Parisian that a police officer has no place in pre-trial detention “even if he may have committed serious faults or errors in the course of his work”, as was the case for the member of the Marseille BAC, imprisoned for an LBD shot in the skull of young Hedi. Within the government itself, people are surprised not to hear the voice of the Minister of the Interior. The most vicious spirits deduce from this a form of revenge on his part, even to be at the origin of the exit of the DGPN at a time when, in Beauvau, there are fears of a contagion of resignations within the police forces.
Sending them a signal of love while placing a mine in Elisabeth Borne’s garden in mainland France, the “first cop in France” kills two birds with one stone. “The DGPN did not do this by chance and against the advice of its Prime Minister (sic), still happy that we have an Interior Minister who protects his troops”, recognizes a close friend of Gérald Darmanin. Back in France, the Minister of the Interior once again affirms his support for the police in a police station in the 19th arrondissement of the capital, standing in front of the Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez and Frédéric Veaux. Among his colleagues and in the presidential majority, his divisive positioning, Gérald Darmanin commands admiration by his tenacity and panics by his radicalism. A minister shouts: “The revolt was rumbling, there were different ways of managing the situation: he chose demagoguery. He chose to be an arsonist firefighter!”
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez and director general of the national police Frédéric Veaux, during a meeting at the Beauvau hotel on July 27, 2023 in Paris
© / afp.com/Bertrand GUAY
Act III. The assertion
No rest for the brave nor for the revengeful. For the Minister of the Interior, summer rhymes with hyperactivity: trips in shambles, the method proved its worth last year, why deprive yourself of it? But summer also rhymes with back to school. Novelty. Friendship. Domed chest. For the first time – and this is probably no coincidence – the former mayor of Tourcoing will organize his own political comeback in his northern stronghold at the end of August. Officially, it is a day of work and reflection devoted to the expectations of the working classes. More unofficially, the event has everything of a show of force, an ideological and political structuring, coupled with a gathering of its allies. In two words, a stable creation.
In his entourage, we do not hide it… but to different degrees. Tempered version: “Obviously it’s the start of something, but in the service of the collective, it’s not a solitary escape”, estimates the deputy of Val-de-Marne Mathieu Lefèvre. More enthusiastic variant: “Gérald has the stature of a statesman, a destiny. He has understood, more than ever, that 2027 is tomorrow and that we have to get organized”, another close parliamentarian is feverish of the Northerner. The invitations have already been launched, by Gérald Darmanin himself or through his parliamentary adviser, Grégory Canal, who is trying to fill up on deputies.
The close guard will not miss the event under any circumstances; others are surprised to have been invited, but consider that it is never good to insult the future… This is far from being the case for all members of the government: if the support of the minister are honored to have raked wide, this does not extend to all the ministers of the left wing. you must not exaggerate. And, whatever it is, those will not come. “I’m not going to advertise someone who is organizing a deliberately anti-Borne event,” squeaks one of them who, in any case, did not have the pleasure of receiving his card.
Is darmanis officially emerging? This August 27 looks very much like childbirth. The Minister of the Interior intends to cement the foundations of his social right, of his Sarkozyism 2.0 without concession on the sovereign, firm on the value of work and interventionist on the social aspect. “He wants and needs to show that he is something other than Macron’s interior minister,” slips a parliamentarian who has spoken to him for a long time in recent days. Above all, Gérald Darmanin intends to play fully on the effect of contrast: with a Macronie deemed above ground, with the technocratic newspeak that he has always hated; as well as with its competitors from the right, Bruno Le Maire and Edouard Philippe, not to mention them, with more liberal software. But for the boss of Beauvau, the big test of the new school year remains his Immigration bill which, for the time being, does not find a majority in the Assembly. “Gérald’s compass is to impose his timing, give himself the means for his ambitions. When, like him, you were mayor, you took it all in the face, anything can happen to you. Nothing can happen to you. is scary”, praises the deputy Renaissance and ex-LR Karl Olive. Yes, Gérald Darmanin is not afraid of anything or anyone. And in Macronie, no one finds out. Welcome back.