French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has a reputation for never ducking a fight. But the tough-talking Socialist party moderniser may be about to embark on his biggest battle yet.
On Monday, the Spanish-born premier announced he would resign to seek the Socialist nomination for president in next year's election after Francois Hollande said he would bow out after a single term.
Valls had been waiting in the wings for the chance to become the new standard bearer of the left. He will do battle with at least seven other candidate in a two-stage January 22-29 primary.
Having stood as a candidate in 2012 when he was defeated by Hollande, Valls will be hoping for second-time luck after helping elbow aside his unpopular boss.
Born to a Spanish painter father and Swiss-Italian mother, the 54-year-old has an unusual family background for a modern French leader and has not been scared to attack leftist orthodoxy.
Valls makes no apologies for his pro-business stance and desire to modernise the Socialist party -- evident in his desire in 2007 to change the name of the party which he judged old-fashioned.
"The left could die," he has warned, describing the emergence of two "irreconcilable" factions -- one pragmatic and open to reforms, the other wedded to the class struggle.
Such statements have led to comparisons in the past to ex-British prime minister Tony Blair who dragged his party to the centre ground and won three successive elections.
But Valls' use of decrees to ram through contested economic reforms during his two and half years as prime minister, and a failed proposal to strip dual-national terrorists of their French citizenship have alienated many in the party.
His tough talk on crime has also opened up divisions on the left, while earning him respect among more conservative voters.
"A boss must know how to be the boss. I'm the boss," he said in 2014 when Hollande promoted him to the top cabinet job.
- French 'apartheid' -
In August, he waded into the debate on the Islamic "burkini", declaring the full-body swimsuit "not compatible" with French values in a sign of his stern line on Islam in France.
"He says things with a certain honesty, a certain clearness, and yes, sometimes a certain roughness," Alain Bauer, a prominent French criminologist and friend of Valls since their student days, told AFP.
Valls' family fled the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain to settle in France, but they travelled back to Barcelona for his birth in August 1962. He only gained French citizenship at the age of 20.
Unlike Hollande and many other members of the French political elite, the lifelong Barcelona football club fan did not attend the prestigious ENA school of administration, studying history instead.
Valls has four children from his first marriage to a teacher.
In 2010 the sharp-dressing minister remarried to Anne Gravoin, a glamorous concert violinist.
His political career began as a parliamentary researcher at age 23 before he went on to work as an aide to former Socialist prime ministers Michel Rocard and Lionel Jospin.
In 2001, he became mayor of the tough high-immigration Paris suburb of Evry and was elected to the National Assembly a year later.
His experience in Evry has informed his views of France's notoriously rough suburbs.
He has spoken out about the failure of France to offer opportunities to immigrant families in grim high-rise homes outside major cities, deploring the "spatial, social and ethnic apartheid".
To triumph, he will need to bridge serious divisions within his own camp and overcome scepticism among the public about his record in government.
Valls is a favourite to win the Socialist-organised primary but polls show him trailing in the first round of the election in April behind conservative candidate Francois Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has a reputation for never ducking a fight. But the tough-talking Socialist party moderniser may be about to embark on his biggest battle yet.
On Monday, the Spanish-born premier announced he would resign to seek the Socialist nomination for president in next year’s election after Francois Hollande said he would bow out after a single term.
Valls had been waiting in the wings for the chance to become the new standard bearer of the left. He will do battle with at least seven other candidate in a two-stage January 22-29 primary.
Having stood as a candidate in 2012 when he was defeated by Hollande, Valls will be hoping for second-time luck after helping elbow aside his unpopular boss.
Born to a Spanish painter father and Swiss-Italian mother, the 54-year-old has an unusual family background for a modern French leader and has not been scared to attack leftist orthodoxy.
Valls makes no apologies for his pro-business stance and desire to modernise the Socialist party — evident in his desire in 2007 to change the name of the party which he judged old-fashioned.
“The left could die,” he has warned, describing the emergence of two “irreconcilable” factions — one pragmatic and open to reforms, the other wedded to the class struggle.
Such statements have led to comparisons in the past to ex-British prime minister Tony Blair who dragged his party to the centre ground and won three successive elections.
But Valls’ use of decrees to ram through contested economic reforms during his two and half years as prime minister, and a failed proposal to strip dual-national terrorists of their French citizenship have alienated many in the party.
His tough talk on crime has also opened up divisions on the left, while earning him respect among more conservative voters.
“A boss must know how to be the boss. I’m the boss,” he said in 2014 when Hollande promoted him to the top cabinet job.
– French ‘apartheid’ –
In August, he waded into the debate on the Islamic “burkini”, declaring the full-body swimsuit “not compatible” with French values in a sign of his stern line on Islam in France.
“He says things with a certain honesty, a certain clearness, and yes, sometimes a certain roughness,” Alain Bauer, a prominent French criminologist and friend of Valls since their student days, told AFP.
Valls’ family fled the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain to settle in France, but they travelled back to Barcelona for his birth in August 1962. He only gained French citizenship at the age of 20.
Unlike Hollande and many other members of the French political elite, the lifelong Barcelona football club fan did not attend the prestigious ENA school of administration, studying history instead.
Valls has four children from his first marriage to a teacher.
In 2010 the sharp-dressing minister remarried to Anne Gravoin, a glamorous concert violinist.
His political career began as a parliamentary researcher at age 23 before he went on to work as an aide to former Socialist prime ministers Michel Rocard and Lionel Jospin.
In 2001, he became mayor of the tough high-immigration Paris suburb of Evry and was elected to the National Assembly a year later.
His experience in Evry has informed his views of France’s notoriously rough suburbs.
He has spoken out about the failure of France to offer opportunities to immigrant families in grim high-rise homes outside major cities, deploring the “spatial, social and ethnic apartheid”.
To triumph, he will need to bridge serious divisions within his own camp and overcome scepticism among the public about his record in government.
Valls is a favourite to win the Socialist-organised primary but polls show him trailing in the first round of the election in April behind conservative candidate Francois Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
