French center-right collapsing, double cross logo?

In an earlier post, this blog discussed the controversy about the new logo of the Conservative party in Scotland.

Incredulous Scots couldn’t believe their eyes today when the Scottish Conservatives unveiled their new “double cross” logo.

It replaces the tree adopted in 2006 when the party was trying to convince voters that it would pursue green policies.

The Westminster Tory government has largely shirked those commitments.

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said: “There’s something strangely appropriate in the Tories choosing a ‘double cross’ to represent whatever it is they stand for, but I’m not sure it’s what they were aiming for.”

He said that it was understandable the Scots Tories want to distance themselves from Westminster but “a leopard can’t change its spots.”

Now, from Scotland to France. Until May this year, the UMP centre-right political party was the ruling party in France, the party of President Sarkozy and with a majority in Parliament.

But then, incumbent President Sarkozy lost the election against François Hollande of the socialist party.

A few weeks later, at the parliamentary elections, the UMP lost their majority there as well.

Then, the French conservatives started to tear each other apart, while there was a drift to the far right.

Today, Reuters says:

French conservatives slip further into crisis

Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:29am EST

* Copé, named UMP leader, says it’s time to turn the page

* Rival Fillon wants new vote to resolve leadership crisis

* Pro-Fillon moderates form centre-right wing within party

By Catherine Bremer

PARIS, Nov 27 – France’s opposition conservatives sank deeper into a leadership crisis on Tuesday that could split the party, as moderates demanded a new vote to replace the disputed election of a hardliner and formed a breakaway wing.

Jean-Francois Copé, affirmed as winner of the UMP’s Nov. 18 leadership vote in revised ballot results on Monday, said it was time to move on from a week-old dispute that has left ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s party in chaos.

But his rival Francois Fillon said he and his supporters were forming a new centre-right group within the UMP while he presses the party to hold a fresh vote from scratch.

“I am fighting over principles. Nobody today is in fact leader of the UMP,” Fillon said, as he called for a new vote within three months to be supervised by an independent body.

“We are neither beaten nor mute. We are on our feet,” he said, but added that he still hoped to be able to hold together a party formed a decade ago to knit together centrist and harder-right strands of conservatism.

France politics: UMP party splits in parliament: here.

What is the logo of the UMP?

A tree. Like the British Conservatives’ old logo.

Will Fillon’s new party, or Copé’s party, or both, now change the logo to a double cross, like the Scottish Conservatives? And will they sue each other then about logo copyright?

The victory of Laurent Wauquiez to become president of The Republicans (LR), after the humiliating defeat of LR presidential candidate François Fillon in May, signals a move by the descendants of Gaullism towards the far right. With 75 percent of the vote, the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region overwhelmingly defeated Florence Portelli (16 percent) and Maël de Calan (9 percent). Of LR’s paper membership of 234,566, some 99,597 voted in the December 10 contest, a 42 percent voter turnout, which was higher than expected: here.

Related articles

• French party splits over leader (bbc.co.uk)
• Sarkozy’s party fractures amid leadership dispute (dailystar.com.lb)
• Amid bitter leadership row, French conservatives tap Copé. (greatriversofhope.wordpress.com)
• Sarkozy ally wins French right leadership battle (thehimalayantimes.com)
• French right on verge of collapse as talks fail (guardian.co.uk)
• Sarkozy calls for re-vote in French right showdown (rappler.com)