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The semi-disgraced French Justice Minister, Rachida Dati, plans to defy President Nicolas Sarkozy and rebuild her brief political career by running, long distance, to be the mayor of Paris.
Although there is no vacancy until 2014, Dati, 43, has let it be known that her fortunes are no longer purely dependent on the whims of her estranged mentor, President Sarkozy.
She plans to use her seat on the Paris City Council and her largely ceremonial post as mayor of the well-heeled seventh arrondissement to build a personal power base in the French capital.
Dati was ordered by Sarkozy last month to give up her high-profile post as Justice Minister from June to take the unglamorous position of No 2 on his centre-right party's list for the greater Paris area in the European elections.
Despite denials on all sides, this amounted to a slow-motion dismissal of a woman plucked from relative obscurity by Sarkozy in 2007 as the first person of North African origin to hold a senior post in any French Government.
Although initially a confidante of Sarkozy and a close friend of his ex-wife, Cecilia, Dati's standing in the presidential "court" has plummeted in the past 15 months.
Her attempts to reform the courts system have been resisted by judges and lawyers, who accused her of being high-handed. Her glamorous lifestyle and emergence as a magazine "celeb" increasingly irritated Sarkozy.
Dati announced last September that she was expecting a child, but refused to name the father, angering the conservative-traditional wing of the ruling centre-right party, the UMP.
The Justice Minister's decision to return to work five days after giving birth to her daughter, Zohra, last month provoked controversy.
Associates say Dati has decided to make a virtue of her exile to the European Parliament and prove she is capable of becoming a successful, elected politician.
She is already a member of the Paris council.
Friends said she plans to emerge as the right-wing challenge the Socialist Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoi.
Pierre-Yves Bournazel, political adviser to Dati, told Le Parisien: "The first step is the European election. That will increase her contacts with local politicians and dignitaries.
"Parisians will start to think Dati is the centre-right in Paris."
With five years to go before the next Paris municipal elections, Dati's campaign may seem premature.
The briefings by her advisers are aimed at one Paris voter - Sarkozy - rather than the electorate.
Sarkozy is said to have little faith in Dati's ability to become a serious candidate for mayor.
He had earmarked the role for the Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, whom Sarkozy is expected to replace soon.
- INDEPENDENT
