This week Mr Sarkozy bagged another Socialist grandee, Jack Lang, who also enjoys wide popularity.

ECONOMIST: France's Socialist Party

If only by 37 votes, Jack Lang, the education minister, lost Blois, which he had controlled since 1989.

ECONOMIST: France

It took a last-minute intervention by the culture minister of the day, Jack Lang, to save Mr. Buren's project, which has since proved immensely popular and was given a much-needed makeover in 2010.

WSJ: Daniel Buren's Bright Periphery | 'Excentrique(s) Travail In Situ' at the Grand Palais in Paris