Nicolas Sarkozy blocks de Villepin honour

President Nicolas Sarkozy is not someone you want to make an enemy of, as Dominique de Villepin, the sometime poet and former French prime minister is discovering.

As reported here last week, de Villepin (pictured) is to stand trial for his alleged involvement in a plot to smear Sarkozy during the 2007 presidential elections, the so-called "Clearstream affair" in which stories were leaked to the press claiming that Sarkozy had taken bribes.

Now a further humiliation has been heaped upon de Villepin: his exclusion from the grand officer rank of the Legion d'Honneur, one of the country's highest awards.

Normally, as a former PM, he would have received the coveted honour automatically. However, Sarkozy has just signed off a new regulation that requires a prime minister to have served two years or more in office to be eligible. De Villepin, who vied with Sarkozy to become Jacque Chirac's successor when both served under him as ministers, was PM for one year, eleven months and 15 days.