Sarkozy's humiliating climb-down in nepotism affair...

Jean Sarkozy caused astonishment by pulling the plug on his fast-track rise to take over the political leadership of La Défense, the huge skyscraper complex just west of the capital dubbed "France's Manhattan".

The second year undergraduate law student – who has been a county councillor for 18 months -was guaranteed the plum job as presidential loyalists command a majority on La Défense's £100 million-a-year public agency. Instead he settled yesterday for a place on the body's board.

A prime-time performance was remarkably polished for a 23-year-old, who said he preferred not to win a "victory stained with doubt".

But few believed his claim that he had made the decision on his own. There was no doubt among observers that his father had caved in to spiralling public hostility, much of it from his own disoriented right-wing electorate. More..

Don't miss:

1. Sarkozy accused of nepotism as son lands top job...
2. Sarkozy criticizes US justice in Polanski case...
3. French minister paid for sex with 'young boys' in Thailand...
4. Sarkozy jeered at Bongo's funeral in Gabon...
5. This girl refuses to shake hands with Sarkozy!!