Sarkozy calls journalists paedophiles

Claims French president may have used illegal funds from arms-to-Pakistan deal to fund campaign provoke outburst

• Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 November 2010 13.03 GMT
• Article history

Nicolas Sarkozy: 'No one among you believes I arranged bribes ... It's unbelievable.' Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA

Nicolas Sarkozy is on a pre-election charm offensive to show how calm and polite he is and draw a line under past outbursts, such as when he told a visitor to the Paris agricultural show: "Sod off, prick."

But the jumpy French president is still finding it hard to keep a lid on his verbal assaults. During an off-the-record briefing at the Nato summit, Sarkozy lost his cool when asked about the "Karachigate" corruption scandal, which threatens to engulf him personally, calling the journalists questioning him "paedophiles".

Sarkozy dismissed as "crazy" allegations that he had used illegal kickbacks from an arms deal to Pakistan to fund a political campaign. "No one among you believes I arranged bribes and kickbacks for submarines for Pakistan. It's unbelievable," he told reporters.

Then, alluding to testimony by a former defence minister, Charles Millon, who said he had an "absolute conviction" there had indeed been kickbacks, Sarkozy turned to one journalist and fumed about what he called the absurdity of the investigation.

He raged: "And you! I've no evidence against you. But it would seem you're a paedophile. Who told me? I have an absolute conviction. I've seen the intelligence reports but I won't tell you which ones; I've seen someone but I won't tell you who, and it was word of mouth. But I have an absolute conviction you're a paedophile ... Can you explain yourself?"

After a 10-minute diatribe against various journalists, during which he kept returning to the paedophile analogy, he walked off declaring: "See you tomorrow, paedophile friends."

Sarkozy's previous public outbursts include his insulting the man at the Paris agriculture show, who had refused to shake his hand. He also lashed out at a Breton fisherman at a demonstration, calling him tu and inviting him to come over and thrash things out face to face. Each time, his rages have contributed to a drop in opinion polls and outrage at his "unpresidential" demeanour. In a recent TV appearance aimed at paving the way for his difficult re-election campaign in 2012, Sarkozy made a deliberate effort to come across as modest and composed.