Between them, something was damaged. A little nothing in politics: trust. This Saturday, December 7, Laurent Wauquiez telephoned Bruno Retailleau, the day after his meeting at the Elysée with a delegation of elected representatives from Les Républicains (LR). This report will not hurt the Minister of the Interior. He was ousted from this meeting by the boss of the Republican Right (LR) deputies. A phone call to the secretary general of the Elysée Alexis Kohler, a matter quickly resolved. In what capacity should the Vendéen be present, he who abandoned the presidency of the LR group in the Senate? How unwelcome it would be to see the beginnings of a war of leaders. A simple respect for the statutes, that’s all. Bruno Retailleau is having lunch with Michel Barnier when he finds out. The bearer of bad news is Jérôme Fournel, chief of staff of the resigning Prime Minister.
The debriefing leaves a taste of unfinished business for the minister, whose relationship with Laurent Wauquiez has suddenly deteriorated. He wants the right to participate in the future government, his interlocutor is more vague. He wonders. Why then does Laurent Wauquiez never call for the appointment of a Prime Minister from the Republicans (LR)? Bruno Retailleau suspects his ally of preparing the return of the right in the opposition, in order to embody the alternation in 2027. And too bad for the senator, popular tenant of Beauvau.
“Wauquiez shifts a lot and gives in little”
Here is Laurent Wauquiez once again returned to his image of a boatman, as reliable as the scorpion with the frog. The little music is playing, you have to turn it off. Laurent Wauquiez decides this Sunday, December 8 to clarify his strategic doctrine with the Figaro. And show white paw. “Our preference will obviously go to a Prime Minister from the LR”; “I hope that Bruno Retailleau can continue his work at the Ministry of the Interior.” The Wauquiez camp swears to point out the obvious, that of Bruno Retailleau praises a shift. At the start of the evening, the elected official from Haute-Loire brought his deputies together during a videoconference to detail this interview. Aube MP Valérie Bazin-Malgras takes the opportunity to sing the praises of the mayor of Troyes François Baroin, “in the starting blocks for Matignon”.
Enough to restore harmony? There is room for doubt. The poison of suspicion has interfered in the relations between Laurent Wauquiez and Bruno Retailleau. Two ambitious people, driven by contradictory interests. A Minister of the Interior with a meteoric rise, hanging in Beauvau. A presidential candidate terrified at the idea of merging into Macronism. To these political friends, Bruno Retailleau confided this weekend his disappointment with his ally.
Laurent Wauquiez is the secretive type. He listens to his interlocutors, but does not always verbalize his intentions. “When he speaks, he doesn’t put words to things. He’s not too analytical,” notes a faithful. “He tacks a lot and gives in little,” notes a recent confidant. There right is condemned to exegesis of its declarations. This December 5, the MP explains on France 2 that LR’s participation in the next executive will not be “automatic”, but conditional on the project implemented. He especially insists on his refusal of “blockage” and the “strategy of the worst”.
What could be more natural? LR crushes the censorship vote by Marine Le Pen and highlights her “responsibility”. On the right, many voices detect in this commitment the unspeakable desire for a coalition between the central bloc and the left, to which the right would remain foreign. The opposition, ideal rejuvenation! “Wauquiez has no personal hostility towards Retailleau, but it is a stone in his shoe as the only figure on the right and in his dream of presenting an alternative to Edouard Philippe, notes an LR executive. If we govern together again, nothing would justify a Wauquiez candidacy in 2027.”
Suspicion is spreading to the right. At the end of the meeting with Emmanuel Macron, François-Xavier Bellamy exchanges with Laurent Wauquiez from the after-sales maintenance service. The LR MEP, close to Bruno Retailleau, makes a demand. The right must not only commit to censoring any government containing LFI ministers, but also an executive implementing the NFP program. Laurent Wauquiez agrees.
Different constraints
Trials of intentions arise. A DR deputy warned Place Beauvau: “He will want to recover the Interior.” Around Laurent Wauquiez, we deny these rumors with the force of evidence. If the right is no longer in charge, neither will occupy the position. If she governs, dislodging Bruno Retailleau would make no sense.
The official update from the deputy for Haute-Loire in THE Figaro reflects the ambient climate. After all, Laurent Wauquiez had led a behind-the-scenes battle to get the job in September. In vain. On September 19, the Wauquiez camp capitulated. He reveals to the press the list of future LR ministers, before the announcement of the Barnier government. Simple transparency, we assure you. But doesn’t revealing the name of the conservative Retailleau expose him to a Macronist offensive? There is Vautrin jurisprudence in the air… An LR deputy probes Bruno Retailleau: “It’s a beginner’s mistake or there is something else behind it”, slips the senator.
Wauquiez-Retaileau. The two men established a cordial relationship, without emotional closeness. Bruno Retailleau praises the intellectual abilities of the former minister and appreciated his return to the legislative arena. They grew closer after the formation of the government, having lunch together on September 25. And share a dinner on November 16, in the company of their wives. Their trajectories diverge. The tenant of Beauvau flourishes in his functions. The Vendéen’s sincere convictions poorly mask a keen ambition. In 2021, he was already thinking of running in the LR primary for the presidential election, before throwing in the towel. Serial radio morning shows were not enough to extract him from the anonymity of the Senate. Light, finally. The controllers, for once.
Laurent Wauquiez observes this rise with ambivalence. She serves the interests of her training, but brings out a potential rival. The deputy’s interlocutors describe a man in competition with the senator, but respectful of his work. “The results in Beauvau are difficult to obtain,” Brice Hortefeux, former holder of the post, confided to him one day. “The French can credit him with wanting,” he retorted. The new minister knows how to play politics. This Friday 6 December, he released a tweet at the end of the morning hostile to any “compromise with the left […] who made a pact with the Rebels”, just before Emmanuel Macron received the socialists. It is urgent to close the door to any coalition with the left. The common base is sufficient in itself, thank you very much. An LR leader smiles: “We have the impression that Retailleau is invested with a divine mission to save France. He didn’t get there out of disinterest.”
In Vendéen, freedom. To Laurent Wauquiez, the Chinese puzzle. The former regional president is struggling to find his place in this changing political environment. Under coalition, his role as parliamentary group president is thankless. It offers him neither media visibility nor ideological latitude. The spirit of “responsibility” forces him to make concessions, like this increase in taxes swallowed reluctantly. Michel Barnier said it one day to an elected LR: “It would be simpler for Attal and Wauquiez if Cazeneuve was Prime Minister.” Dilemmas and constraints plague the Elysian pretender. Should we join the government? Several elected officials advise him. He remains evasive. “You don’t think that we will then be heirs to Macron’s record?” he replied to one of them.
Should we go into opposition? Laurent Wauquiez cannot make this decision alone. LR ministers have acquired a taste for responsibility. The Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard privately confides her wish to continue the adventure. His counterpart in academic success Alexandre Portier judges that the right must be an “actor” in the next executive, under programmatic conditions. The deputies, more divided and with diverse electoral sociologies, are also sensitive to this return to business. All noted the 16% obtained by their candidate during a partial legislative election in the Ardennes. So, he deals with these demands, but now imposes basic conditions for any participation in government. He invokes a defense of the DNA of the right, Retailleau’s supporters fear the emergence of impassable red lines. The poison of suspicion, again.
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