A sexting scandal makes France fret it is turning Puritan

IN MATTERS OF sex and politics, French insouciance rules that the public interest stops at the bedroom door. Presidents have often kept mistresses. Public opinion shrugs off such dalliances. While in office, François Hollande was photographed astride a scooter visiting his lover. In 1899 Félix Faure died in his mistress’s arms at the Elysée Palace.

Yet on February 14th Benjamin Griveaux, Emmanuel Macron’s struggling candidate for mayor of Paris, made history by standing down after a private sex video he made was posted online. Mr Griveaux, a close ally of the president, did not dispute its authenticity. In 2018 he sent the clip via an app to a woman with whom he was having a consensual liaison. On February 12th the video was posted by Pyotr Pavlensky, a Russian political artist, on a pornographic website along with an article denouncing Mr Griveaux. Within 48 hours he resigned.