Sarko loses cool with ‘dumb ass’ voter

As Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity rating falls to a new low - just 38 per cent - he has caused a new storm by telling a bystander during a walkabout to "get lost". The incident, at an agricultural fair in Paris, was caught on film by a reporter from Le Parisien and has become an instant internet hit over the weekend.

Sarkozy was shaking hands all round when a man in the crowd refused to take his hand."No, don't touch me," he said. In reply, Sarkozy said, without dropping his smile: "Get lost, then."

"You disgust me," the men then said, to which the President responded: "Get lost, you dumb ass."

Sarkozy's office refused to comment on the incident, but the Opposition leader, Francois Hollande, said the exchange showed Sarkozy was failing to show "exemplary" behaviour. He "cannot behave like any ordinary citizen," said Hollande. "He is the president of the Republic."

Meanwhile, the French have another Sarko to contend with. Jean Sarkozy, his younger son by his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli, is stepping onto the first rung of the French political ladder by standing for election in a canton in the affluent Parisian suburb of Neuilly, where his father made his name serving as mayor.

Jean, 21, launched his bid for office last week, immediately attracting such sarcastic comments as "behold, the rise of the dauphin" from French commentators only just getting over the president's shotgun marriage to Carla Bruni.

One man taking the news remarkably well was the loyal member of Sarkozy's UMP party, Arnaud Teulle, who dutifully stepped aside as candidate to allow Sarko Junior to have the chance. "I'm a good soldier," said Teulle, "and totally devoted to he to whom I owe everything in politics."