Blairite or 'blaireau' - the Choice is Sarkozy's

When Nicholas Sarkozy was campaigning to be elected as France's President, he made a point of praising Britain for its 'vitality'. He has also extolled the virtues of the US.

Those sentiments were interpreted as a nod towards the Anglo-Saxon mode of politics, a term often used pejoratively in France. Both his friends and enemies tried to portray him as France's answer to Margaret Thatcher. But aside from a skirmish with rail workers over pensions, Mr Sarkozy has so far shown little appetite for a fight over economic reform.

He has, meanwhile, made headlines in a different way: by transforming the image of the presidency. French Presidents have traditionally been austere in public, occasionally avuncular, always discreet. What they did in private was considered, by themselves and the media, to be no business of the electorate.

Mr Sarkozy has changed that. He enjoys the company of stars. Most recently, he let photographers record a date at Disneyland with the former supermodel Carla Bruni, his new consort. The notion of the celebrity head of state has also been seen as an Anglo-Saxon import - floating the presidency on the free market of tabloid popularity instead of keeping its value pegged to time-honored tradition.

France is undecided whether or not he is a breath of fresh air. From this side of the Channel, the picture looks clearer. France voted for Mr Sarkozy in the expectation that he would shake things up. To do that, he needs to build a personal mandate for change, which means embracing the politics of personality, using charisma as a battering ram against the status quo.

But Mr Sarkozy's approach carries high risk. If he does not use the celebrity limelight effectively, his credibility will be shredded. He may yet be a French Blair - a serial election winner who transformed his country. Or he could turn himself into what French slang calls a 'blaireau' - a poseur and a loser.