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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Letters

French lessons from Alain Juppé for Labour

Bordeaux’s mayor and candidate for Les Republicains (LR) primary election for France’s next presidential election Alain Juppé.
Bordeaux’s mayor and candidate for Les Republicains (LR) primary election for France’s next presidential election Alain Juppé. Photograph: Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images

Angelique Chrisafis (Report, 2 November) admirably describes Alain Juppé’s strong claims to the next French presidency as a moderate unifying candidate. But she omits one major reason for his success – his brilliant record as the long-term mayor of Bordeaux (including while being French foreign secretary). He has created a modern, environmentally friendly transport system within the city, high-speed rail links with Paris and the east, investment in cutting-edge industries, alongside protection for Bordeaux’s inspiring historical and cultural legacy, and a civilised, harmonising approach towards religious and sexual minorities. He has sidelined the Front National. The British Labour party once showed how a dynamic local base could provide a launchpad for national leadership (eg Herbert Morrison). Maybe, in a localising world, it could now pay heed to the French lessons of a progressive politician of the right.
Kenneth Morgan
Witney, Oxfordshire

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