From Royal to French president?

Segolene Royal is an MP, mother and France's newest political star - she could also become presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. But after almost 12 years of Jacques Chirac and 14 of Francois Mitterrand before him, could France be ready for its first Madame La Presidente?

By Caroline Wyatt Paris Correspondent, BBC News

The first thing you notice about Segolene Royal is how unexpectedly small and delicate she is for a politician currently packing a powerful punch in the French opinion polls.

Royal's has become a cover star for many French magazines

This 52-year-old mother of four has a figure that a woman half her age would envy, and the stamina too.

The second thing you notice is how her eyes flash with anger and her lips tighten as one (female) German journalist asks her: "Madame Royal, who designed your jacket?" followed by "what brand of shoes are you wearing?"

"Would you ask the same question of a man?" Segolene Royal demands, her smile developing a glacial quality as the journalist nods a "yes".

Segolene Royal raises one regal, contemptuous eyebrow, brushes off the question and returns to expounding on the policy issues that her (male) Socialist colleagues have long implied she was far too feminine and bubble-headed to tackle.

A political star is born

The irony of it all is that the apparently unstoppable rise of this mould-breaking French politician has come about almost entirely thanks to the sexist scorn heaped on her by those same colleagues.

'Political pin-up' - this cheeky montage by French FHM isn't likely to find favour with Royal

Until late last year, the MP was just another middle-ranking Socialist politician, who won some national recognition in May 2004 for beating the then-PM Jean-Pierre Raffarin to become head of the regional fiefdom of Poitou-Charente.

But last autumn, when she floated the idea of standing for the French presidency, she found herself roundly told off for her presumption and in the middle of a media maelstrom.

"Who would look after the children if she went for the presidency?" scoffed one of her Socialist colleagues.

Yet instead of dampening Ms Royal's hopes, the withering, openly chauvinistic scorn had the opposite effect. She began to soar in the polls, without needing to do or say very much at all, riding a wave of sympathy - indeed empathy - from the nation's female voters and, later on, their husbands, fathers and sons.

Her photo appeared on the front cover of France's five or six weekly magazines simultaneously and suddenly, a new political star was born.

Close to the people

We caught up with Segolene Royal in Poitou-Charente as she opened a jobs club in a deprived suburb, determined to show that she too has viable solutions for the young. Employment, or rather unemployment of 10%, will be the chief battleground for this French election.

Her 'close to the people' approach is in contrast to many French MPs'

I asked her, did France need a Madame la Presidente?

She smiled. "Ah, that I don't know. It'll be first of all up to the Socialist supporters to decide, and then up to the French voters...

"The people are the ones who should have more say. Too much power has been taken from them. I often say the citizens are the real experts on what they need in the struggle against unemployment and insecurity, which are the biggest problems in France today. I think that by listening more to the people, we politicians can act in a more just and effective way."

An answer worthy of a presidential candidate. Her touchy-feely, close-to-the-people approach is in stark contrast to most French politicians, especially the elders or "elephants" of her own party, who seem to believe the people should be kept at arms' length.

First steps

This new superstar of French politics was underestimated for most of her life, not least by her own father, a colonel in the French army.

She is like Tony Blair... She uses the same strategy to win the middle ground Carl Meeus, Royal's biographer

He was a conservative Catholic officer with little time for women, even his own daughters.

But it seems that early needling made the young Segolene Royal all the more determined to prove her father wrong about women's abilities.

She took her first steps down the corridors of power by entering ENA - l'Ecole Nationale d'Administration - the finishing school for the French elite.

At ENA, she found not just her political, but also her personal passion with Francois Hollande, the man who would later become the opposition Socialist leader. They went on to have four children - choosing not to marry, although rumours now abound that they may finally tie the knot this summer, after a quarter of a century together.

But the man whose help proved crucial to her career was the late Socialist President, Francois Mitterrand, who parachuted his bright young adviser into a parliamentary seat - and later made her a junior minister in his government.

Political dynamo

The question now is whether the party's grassroots supporters will vote for her in November's internal party contest to decide the Socialist candidate.

The competition: Nicolas Sarkozy is likely to be presidential candidate for the centre-right

Some on the left have been angered by her slaughtering of the sacred cows of the left: for example, her suggestion of army boot camps for young offenders, or taking benefits away from neglectful parents. Yet she has also attacked the 35-hour working week for not being Socialist enough.

Carl Meeus, her biographer explains: "She is like Tony Blair. She's left on the economy, on taxes, but when it comes to social issues, she is on the right... on security, family, justice. She uses the same strategy as Blair to win the middle ground."

Yet that is not a bad tactic if she is serious about taking on Nicolas Sarkozy - France's hyperactive interior minister, who is likely to be the centre-right's presidential candidate. He has joked that he can see Segolene overtaking him on the right.

So far, Madame Royal has managed to confound all her critics. If the winds of change really are blowing through France, as the polls suggest, this petite political dynamo could well end up proving her father wrong about women's place in the world, as she fights to become this contrary and often chauvinist nation's first Madame La Presidente.

CAROLINE WYATT'S REPORT WAS SHOWN ON NEWSNIGHT ON TUESDAY, 4 JULY, 2006, AT 10.30PM ON BBC TWO