Chapter 8 - Gérald Darmanin

Summary

This is the second of our biographical chapters. It follows on directly from the previous chapter and the discussion of French ministers pressuring their statisticians. In this chapter we look at the record of Gérald Darmanin, a colourful character and populist right-winger whom President Macron appointed to the senior post of minister of the interior. Darmanin has the support of a previous president of France to become the country’s next president. We describe Darmanin’s strong anti-statistical streak, as well as his tendency to borrow words from the rhetoric of the extreme right, including l’ensauvagement (making France a ‘savage’ country). We see how he misuses statistics which his own ministry publishes in its regular ‘victimation’ surveys. His chief statistician argues that the figures for sexual crime, far from showing increased savagery, reflect a greater willingness of women to report rape and sexual assault. More than this, Darmanin downgrades statistics, saying that he trusts the butchers of northern France more than he trusts the statisticians. We see how the ASP intervened to take what it called ‘direct action’. We consider that Darmanin might have had personal reasons – namely two women accusing him of sexual assault – to downgrade the ‘victimation’ surveys.