Sacked French Justice Minister Dati is branded 'inept upstart' by Sarkozy allies in new bo

[عمار صادق]

Sacked French justice minister Rachida Dati has been branded an 'inept upstart' in a brutal character assassination by political allies of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
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• The glamorous politician - fired by the head of state just three weeks after giving birth - comes under savage personal attack in a new book by two political journalists.​
• They quote 'unnamed collaborators' of Sarkozy who describe the president's former protege as 'clueless'.
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• French daily Liberation described scathing onslaught on 43-year-old Dati as 'merciless'.​
• The book is cuttingly called Belle-Aime, after a notorious social climber in a literary classic by Guy de Maupassant.
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• In it, authors Michael Darmon and Yves Derai tell how allies of the president agreed to speak about Dati under a guarantee of anonymity.
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• One said about her time as justice minister: 'She couldn't do her job. She was technically deficient. Everyone knew that.'
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• Another said: 'There was a suffocating atmosphere at the Justice Ministry where Dati demonstrated her total inpetitude for the job and her inability to formulate a single idea on justice.​
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• 'She just didn't have a clue what she was doing'.​
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• The revelations come as the French president is hitting back at Ms Dati after she filmed a documentary airing all her grievances against him.​
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• The documentary, provocatively titled ‘Dati: The Ambitious One', is set to air on French television next month and is sure to fuel the very public war between the two politicians.
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• ‘She’s promised to be honest and fair, leaving no stone unturned. This means saying exactly what she thinks of a number of people, including the president and the First Lady, Carla Bruni,' a source behind the production said.​
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• Ms Dati is one of 12 children by a Moroccan labourer and an illiterate Algerian mother.
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• She became the country's first female North African minister and a figurehead for France's immigrant population.
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• But her reputation suffered enormously when she developed a taste for expensive designer clothes and jewellery.
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• She caused a storm of controversy when she refused to name the father of her daughter, who was born in January, then returned to work within just five days of giving birth by Caesarian.
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• Dati is then said to have broken down in floods of tears when Sarkozy sacked her and told her to stand as an MEP less than three weeks after daughter Zohra was born, telling her: 'Either you leave with nothing, or you leave for Brussels. It's up to you.'​
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• Sarkozy's new wife Carla Bruni is also said to have viewed Dati as a love rival.
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• While engaged to the president a year ago, Bruni pointed to Sarkozy's bed at the Elysee Palace and told Dati: 'You'd have loved to have slept in there, wouldn't you?'​
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• The new book's authors add: 'Rachida Dati is painted in France as an icon of the meritocracy, but she is simply a champion receiver of unwarranted favours.​
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• 'It is less her skill at her job that got her where she is today, and more the energy she put into recruiting friends and protectors in high places.'
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• Friends of Dati said this week that the minister, who quits her justice minister post in June, was 'unphased' by the media attacks on her.
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• One told French radio station Europe 1: 'She is a powerful figure who knows she has a bright future, and doesn't take much notice of the press, whether it's good or bad.​
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• 'She's not a quitter and she'll succeed with or without Mr Sarkozy's help.'​

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