After the catfight the Left Bank breathes easy

For one week only, the dreary world of French politics has been transformed: the past few days' cat-fighting between the grandes dames of the Socialist Party of France has made for scintillating viewing. The French press has called it the "battle of the desperate housewives". There was no need to watch the real Desperate Housewives, which airs sometimes, dubbed, in French.

The two combatants are the beautiful but fallen Ségolène Royal and Martine Aubry. They battled it out for leadership of the Parti Socialiste, the largest party, in terms of membership, in France. Aubry, 58, the mayor of Lille and architect of the 35-hour week, has the advantage of being the daughter of former EU commissioner Jacques "Up Yours" Delors.

True, she does not have Ségo's famous cheekbones - said to be more prominent of late because Ségo recently had some rear molars deliberately removed. But many old-fashioned supporters, or militants, say Aubry will bring some fizz back to the very un-sparkly party.

Her platform is to anchor the PS firmly to the Left, rather than somewhere in the centre. Aubry is backed by all the old dinosaurs (known, strangely, in France as elephants). The struggle grew more vicious until it culminated in Aubry's narrow victory and Ségo's sour grapes unsuccessfully contesting the result.

This is the party whose roots go back to the French Revolution. "But now it's more like The Last of the Mohicans," my husband groaned. The Socialists have taken a psychological beating lately. In the words of former PS leader (and father of Ségo's four kids), François Hollande, it had a "pressing need to find itself". Hollande, despite being Ségo's lover for decades, did not support her call for a second vote.

But it's still the party of the intellectuals, bitterly opposed to President Nicolas Sarkozy and his UMP party. And so the whole of the Left Bank is breathing a sigh of relief. I hear there was much glee down at Café Flore among the old poseurs who gravitate upstairs and recall the glory days of the Sixties. After all, a real Socialist had defeated "the imposter" Ségo. Now that they've got a daughter of Delors in place, there's a good chance they are going to get more of the old-fashioned Lefty policies they applaud.

I just can't help wondering whether the rest of France will be quite so enthusiastic.