The Polite Hardliner: Bruno Retailleau Wants a Right-Wing France Without Marine Le Pen

Bruno Retailleau is mourning a chicken. Young foxes tore it apart, leaving feathers scattered across his property in Saint-Malô-du-Bois. Wearing a blue shirt, the conservative presidential candidate points to the remains. “It was a Marans hen. Black and copper-colored,” he says. “It’s gone. That’s the way of nature.”

Retailleau posted the small scene on Instagram in mid-August. His campaign believes French voters now understand what the former interior minister stands for politically. Much less familiar, it says, is the man behind the politics. One supporter describes him as having “the syndrome of the top student,” saying he appeals more to people’s reason than their emotions.

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It was a Marans hen. Black and copper-colored. It’s gone. That’s the way of nature.

The 65-year-old has recently appeared with chickens, sheep and horses at his farm in western France’s Vendée department. He is writing a personal book for publication in the autumn, while his campaign is revising his program. The magazine Le Point reported that the program should become less technical and have “more wow.”

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The syndrome of the top student

Retailleau faces a serious electoral problem. Seven months before the presidential election, polls place him between 6 percent and 9 percent. For a representative of the long-established Republicans, the political family that governed France for decades and produced several presidents, that is a disastrous figure.

At a meeting with parents in the wealthy Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, Retailleau offered a preview of the new approach. He promised a “cultural revolution” in French schools. School leaders would receive greater powers to discipline violent or bullying pupils, who could be placed in special institutions. Grade repetition would become more common, and children would face stronger performance-based grouping after primary school. Retailleau argued that the goal of treating all pupils equally had prevented genuine equality of opportunity. Two days later, he told Le Figaro that he wanted to fundamentally rewrite the constitution and allow referendums on all legislative questions. He is moving closer to Le Pen’s political territory while continuing to reject cooperation with her.

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cultural revolution