PARIS - A French communist MP turned up for the opening of the new socialist-led parliament in workers' overalls, explaining he was making a proletarian fashion statement on his first day in the job.
"It is a symbol. I am the only worker in the new Assembly, which in my view is too full of Enarques," Mr Patrice Carvalho (45) said, referring to graduates of the Ecole Normale Superieure (ENA), the college which produces much of the country's political and business elite. Mr Carvalho was a mechanic in a factory until the June 1st election which swept Mr Lionel Jospin to power.