Sarko’s women keep Paris guessing

The women in the life of French President Nicolas Sarkozy never fail to intrigue. Yesterday it was the possible affair with glamorous TV anchorwoman Laurence Ferrari; today it's the women within his government fighting over him. Rachida Dati, the French Justice Minister who has been glued to his side on official occasions for the past few months, was reported to have banned the junior minister for Human Rights, Rama Yade, from joining her and the president on their trip to China.

The absence of the outspoken Ms Yade was seen as a sign that Sarko did not want to risk upsetting his Chinese hosts. Yade, who comes from Senegal, made some undiplomatic comments in the run-up to the trip when she described France as a nation with full rights - unlike China and Russia.

But the French newspaper Le Parisien claims: "The real reason is more prosaic. It seems to spring from the rivalry between Rama Yade and Rachida Dati. The atmosphere between the two is electric."

The influence of Rachida Dati (pictured with Sarkozy) on the president has been the subject of speculation ever since she joined Sarko and his then wife Cecilia on their summer holiday in the United States. Since Cecilia's departure, she has accompanied him to a White House dinner, sat by his side during the France-New Zealand World Cup rugby match, and been his partner at a state banquet in Morocco.

Sarkozy never fails to support her in the face of all sorts of difficulties she has encountered as the first French cabinet minister of Algerian background. He has even called her "ma beurette" - "my little Arab girl".

Some claim a romance between them, but most political insiders say it's more of a brother-sister relationship. To keep the gossips second-guessing, Sarko took his own chaperone with him to China - his 81-year-old mother Andree, whom he introduced to President Hu Jintao in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.