Appetite matters in politics. In the last days of 2020, Edouard Philippe, who left Matignon in July crowned by his management of the Covid crisis, was invited to lunch by two old friends, the former Chiraquian ministers Jean-François Copé and Pierre Bédier. They explain to him that he has a window of opportunity not to be missed with the presidential election of 2022. Their reasoning is simple: when you have acquired real capital from the French, history never repeats itself. The mayor of Le Havre responds without responding, “evanescent”, also stressing that he would be faced with a problem of loyalty vis-à-vis Emmanuel Macron, the president who appointed him to Matignon, the head of state who has every intention of succeeding himself.
Jean-François Copé never does things by halves. He will see Edouard Philippe once again a few months later to try to convince him through A + B to take his chance. And then… no. Worse than no, nothing: the former Prime Minister does not even return to the mayor of Meaux (also a columnist for L’Express) to explain the progression of his thoughts. Not a sign, not a phone call: Copé feels some bitterness about this. In the following months, he explains, with his art of formula, that “Edouard misses all the trains” or laments that “at the last moment he had a swimming pool, as always, a Bordeaux custom no doubt” – l he shadow of Alain Juppé still pursues the man who was one of his closest collaborators.
When Edouard Philippe publishes with Gilles Boyer his Clear prints and lines, he says that in the days preceding his appointment to Matignon, he lost several kilos. Jean-François Copé does not digest the anecdote. What a confession! The position that will spoil his appetite, the former Minister of the Budget, does not yet exist. Could this be an admission that Edouard Philippe would not be prepared to rise to the top of the State?
“Very determined”
This time, hunger justifies the means. The one who was spokesperson for the Horizons group in the National Assembly, Frédéric Valletoux (now Deputy Minister of Health) convinced the former Prime Minister to sit down at the table with Jean-François Copé. You have to know how to end a quarrel. On January 30, the two men had lunch alone. Change of menu: the mayor of Le Havre appears “very determined”, his colleague from Meaux needed to hear him to understand. The one who invented the formula “we must restore order in the street and in our accounts” (he now adds the school) details the sovereign and economic policy he is thinking about, he describes his wish for a real professional political class, which involves a relaxation of the law on the accumulation of mandates. The 2020-2022 episode is put in the closet.
Monday March 18, Edouard Philippe had the opportunity to have a quick sweet coffee (that’s how he likes them, he confessed in the show What does it eat? of Doctor Jimmy Mohamed) with another right-wing personality. Valérie Pécresse makes a surprise visit to Le Havre to take part in the Seine axis meetings. She took the opportunity to give her agreement – under conditions – to the new Paris-Normandy railway line, which she had rejected until now. In April 2023, she wrote a long letter to Le Havre in which she justified her refusal.
“Hey, she’s getting closer to Edouard,” smiles a major elected official from the Ile-de-France region. The evolution of the president of the Ile-de-France region, who was LR’s candidate in 2022, is explained in particular by a change in the financing rules for the new lines of the greater Paris express, long blocked by a certain… Bruno The Mayor, Minister of the Economy, careful about state spending and who also displays, these days, his Elysian ambitions. The little electoral kitchen of 2027 is already starting to simmer.
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