French politicians react angrily to Sun's Chirac attack

by Claire Billings,, Brand Republic 21-Feb-03, 11:00

LONDON - The Sun managed to earn the anger of French politicians yesterday as it published a French edition of the paper portraying president Jacques Chirac as a worm for his lack of support for the US and UK over plans to disarm Iraq.

The French edition of The Sun ran with a picture of president Chirac's head grafted on to the body of a worm. It ran with the headline "Chirac est un ver" (Chirac is a worm) and an article in French that was translated into English on The Sun's website.

The piece accused Chirac of being hypocritical in his stance against the US and UK, and reminded him of how American and England fought to free France and how the war cemetries of France are packed with British and American war dead.

"You were glad enough to welcome the Americans when Hitler ruled France. But now you sneer at the American people and their president, and forget how the war cemeteries of France are packed with American and British soldiers and sailors and airmen, who laid down their lives so France could be free," the article said.

New editor Rebakah Wade arranged for around 2,000 copies of the paper to be distributed to French media outlets. However, the typical UK tabloid joke did not go down well with French politians, who reacted with anger.

As a copy was thrust into the hands of the French culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon, he reacted by saying: "It is rather vulgar and it is an insult to our country. It is pathetic, but then this newspaper is not known for its elegance."

The paper was also the second item in the lunchtime news on state-run broadcaster France 2 TV. It was placed higher up the news agenda than news on Iraq and the France-Africa summit in Paris.

According to The Sun's sister paper The Times, the French would have been particularly sensitive to the edition because they link the media with the government and could see the publication as an attack by the British establishment.

Wade's stunt echoes previous Sun antipathy to French politians. One of The Sun's most famous rebukes to France was its "Up yours Delors" 1990 splash attacking Jacques Delors.

The move is also in keeping with Wade's no-holds barred reputation as editor of News of the World, when she published a list of paedophiles in the Sunday paper.

She has already ramped up the paper's pro-war stance, mocking last week's protests in London by emphasising how many people did not turn up for the march.

The Sun's pro-war stance reflects that of Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, who was recently quoted in an interview with Australian magazine The Bulletin saying he supported US president George W Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq. He said it was morally the right thing to do to tackle Saddam Hussein.

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