The writer and essayist Patrick Buisson, a figure of the conservative right, died at the age of 74, several media learned this Tuesday, December 26, information confirmed by AFP. His lifeless body was found at his home in Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée) by firefighters earlier in the morning. According to our colleagues at Paris Match, he died of cardiac arrest. An autopsy must take place.
“He passionately loved France and its history. He saw, before many, the great dangers that threaten our country,” reacted on X (ex-Twitter) the president of the Les Républicains party, Éric Ciotti. “Patrick Buisson was a man of great culture, a talented writer and a mad lover of France,” wrote Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally.
Decryptors of rights
With his “uninhibited” political line on authority, morality and delinquency, this specialist in opinion studies was considered one of the best decipherers of the right.
Frontally opposed to the left, the former journalist for Minute, Current values and LCI had sailed alongside the sovereignist Philippe de Villiers, Nicolas Dupont Aignan before joining the ranks of Nicolas Sarkozy whom he led to victory during the 2007 presidential election. Many supporters of the ex-president accused this promoter of the rapprochement between the right and the theses of the National Front to have a major responsibility in the defeat of 2012. Since then, Patrick Buisson continued to distill his lessons to the ears of politicians. He was close to Eric Zemmour and the president of the Les Républicains group in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau.
Patrick Buisson has had several encounters with the law. In February 2014, the weekly Point reveals that the political advisor recorded meetings with Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysée without his knowledge. A year later, he was indicted in the Elysée poll affair for “concealment of favoritism”, “embezzlement of public funds” and “abuse of corporate assets”. He was sentenced on January 21, 2022 to two years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros for having benefited from major survey contracts without a call for tenders.
He is the author of several works including Decadance (Albin Michel), of The People’s Cause (Perrin) and The End of a World (Albin Michel).