Former first lady accuses Hollande of branding poor ‘toothless’

Francois Hollande’s image took a new knock yesterday with publication of a tell-all book in which ex-partner Valerie Trierweiler accused the French President of describing the poor as "the toothless".

Hollande ended his seven-year relationship with Trierweiler after his affair with an actress was revealed in January.

The 49-year-old journalist vowed at the time that, breaking with a French tradition of maintaining discretion over private lives in politics, she would not keep quiet. The 320-page book is laced with unflattering references to Hollande as cold or callous. But the charge that he ridiculed the poor was the one that sparked most media debate.