France: Hollande faces fresh controversy over 'toothless' remark

The French president's former girlfriend, Valerie Trierweiler, has renewed her claim he used "toothless" as a nickname for the poor.

Francois Hollande was accused of using the term by Ms Trierweiler after their acrimonious split in 2014.

In a new book, Mr Hollande said he never used the term in a derogatory way and called her story "a betrayal".

In response, Ms Trierweiler posted what appears to be a 2005 text message from the president using the term.

The allegation is potentially damaging to the Socialist Party president as he considers whether to stand again in next year's presidential election. 

Read more - France: Hollande faces fresh controversy over 'toothless' remark - BBC News

France aghast at tweet by French leader's partner - by Elaine Ganley

Valerie Trierweiler

President Francois Hollande's girlfriend set the French political establishment aghast Tuesday with a tweet seen as a dig against the mother of his four children.

The tweet of support to Olivier Falorni, a politician in western France, was signed by Valerie Trierweiler and went viral on the Internet and dominated news shows.

It was seen as a dig at Segolene Royal, whom Hollande had four children with but never married. Royal, also a former Socialist presidential candidate, is running against Falorni in the Charente-Maritime region in Sunday's parliamentary elections final round.

The tweet starts: "Have courage, Olivier Falorni." But it is easily interpreted as a not-so-veiled dig at Royal.  The Socialist Party recently banished Falorni for failing to step aside in favor of Royal, so he is running as a dissident candidate. After last Sunday's first-round vote, Royal holds a narrow lead over Falorni.

Trierweiler, a journalist and avid tweeter, has made no secret of her determination to retain her independence, or of her discomfort with the image and chores of a first lady.

Her employer, Paris-Match, barred her from working as a political reporter after the May 6 election of Hollande, although it has allowed her to stay on as a book reviewer. Her first review, published last week, was of a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of ex-U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and began: "Look at that! A journalist first lady isn't a novelty."

Read more: France aghast at tweet by French leader's partner - BusinessWeek

France: Au revoir Carla Bruni, France's new first lady is cut from a different cloth

Valerie Trierweiler

Valerie Trierweiler, one of six children from a humble Loire Valley family, has become a familiar face at home only since Hollande, a lifelong party official and MP, burst from relative obscurity a year ago to beat heavyweight rivals to the Socialist nomination. She became familiar in the background as a regal, discreet but steely force with a protective eye on Hollande, who occasionally unleashes a barbed tweet at those who cross her.

People who know the couple credit her with a strong role in Hollande's spectacular rise. He has blossomed with his new companion, they say, after a rough period as party leader that culminated in the presidential campaign and defeat of Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate in 2007. Royal was, of course, Hollande's partner and the mother of their four children. As the political world knew at the time, but the public did not, Trierweiler and Hollande were already an item. The twice-divorced Trierweiler - she carries the name of her second husband Denis, a Paris Match journalist and university lecturer, with whom she has three sons, aged 15, 17 and 19 - has lived with Hollande in their rented Left Bank flat since 2007.

A crowning moment of their companionship came on Sunday night when an accordion struck up Edith Piaf's anthem La Vie en Rose after Hollande's victory speech in Tulle, the country town that has been his political base since the 1980s. All of France watched Hollande's surprise at the romantic song, which had been organised by Trierweiler. "Why La Vie en Rose? That's a state secret," she says.

Read more: Au revoir Carla Bruni, France's new first lady is cut from a different cloth | The Australian