He abandoned his citizenship in an emotional, sweeping open letter addressed to French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault that was published in mid-December in the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche.

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For French paper Le Monde, Marc Roche accuses Mr Cameron of remaining "vague" about the "fundamental point" of what would happen if France and Germany refuse to meet his demands.

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Since then the French paper Le Parisien (followed by the British press, including The Times and Daily Mail) has taken that idea one step further and proclaimed as truth that Beckham, the highest paid soccer player in the world, is scamming the French government out of his fair share of taxes.

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Then, after a version of 'Pop Goes the Weasel' involving paper bags, an enthusiastic Gerard Le Fevre and an audience attempting to sing "increasingly operatic", we had the interval.

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Despite Mr Sarkozy's tough talk on crime and immigration, the far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen remains a threat (although he has yet to secure the 500 signatures needed to appear on the ballot paper).

ECONOMIST: French politics