Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa, Nicolas Paul Stéphane (1955- )

French right-of-centre politician, leader of the centre-right Union for Popular Movement (UMP) from 2004 and president from 2007.

An energetic advocate of a new brand of French conservatism that, influenced by Britain's New Labour of Tony Blair, blends free-market economics and a tough stance on crime and immigration, his challenge for the French presidency in 2007 involved a break from traditional Gaullist social conservatism. As interior minister he pushed through measures to curb illegal immigration, including deportations, but also advocated positive discrimination to reduce youth unemployment.

Born in Paris, the son of a Hungarian immigrant who became an advertising executive, and a mother of Greek Jewish origin, he trained as a lawyer, specializing in business law. Unlike many in the French ruling class, he did not go to the Ecole Nationale d'Administration. He was mayor of the prosperous Paris suburb of Neuilly 1983-2002 and deputy in the French National Assembly from 1988. He served as minister of the budget 1993-95. Initially a protégé of President Jacques Chirac, he fell out of favour when he supported Edouard Balladur's bid to become president in 1996. But Chirac recognized his talents and appointed him interior minister 2002-04 and finance minister in 2004.