Larger-than-life stalwart of the French right wing

The former French interior minister Charles Pasqua, who has died aged 88, was a totem of the French right, influential in shaping its hardline policies for more than 30 years.

A Resistance fighter turned henchman for Charles de Gaulle and the power broker behind two centre-right presidents – Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy – Pasqua was best known for his tough stances on immigration, terrorism and crime.

Both the man, a blunt-speaking bruiser, and his virulently nationalist views were polarising. His devotion to his country was without question, but his deeply ingrained social conservatism and a series of allegations of pocketing public money led people to refer to him as a godfather.

To the right, the former drinks salesman with his strong southern accent came as a refreshing change from the graduates of the grandes écoles who formed the overwhelming majority of France's ruling elite. The left, however, found his flirting with policies championed by the far-right Front National, including calls for "zero immigration", and his authoritarian approach hard to swallow.

In a career that swerved in and out of the political and legal shadows, Pasqua occasionally gave the impression he believed himself accountable to no one, roundly batting away allegations of criminal activity. It was an impression he cultivated with soundbite quotes. “Democracy ends where the interests of the state begin,” he once declared. “We have to terrorise the terrorists.” “Promises are binding only on those who believe them.”

Bluster

For all his influence, bluster and larger than life presence, Pasqua would never make it to the very top of the French political ladder. Even his spells in government – he was interior minister from 1986 to 1988 and again from 1993 to 1995 – were brief.

Charles Pasqua was born in Grasse in Provence. His grandfather was a Corsican shepherd and his parents were migrants to the French mainland. His father, André, was a police officer and a member of the Resistance, and his mother, Françoise (née Rinaldi), worked in the flourishing local perfume industry.

Pasqua left school at 15, joined the Resistance and later obtained a law degree, before taking a job selling pastis with the drinks company Ricard, where he rose to become the company number two.

He helped create the Service d’Action Civique (SAC), a shadowy Gaullist militia known for its violent methods. After helping Chirac to become prime minister in 1986 he was named interior minister, despite the opposition of the then Socialist president François Mitterrand, who referred to him as “that devil”.

He led an unsuccessful revolt against the 1992 Maastricht treaty and in 1999 entered the European Parliament as leader of his own anti-EU party.

He backed Chirac’s right-wing rival Édouard Balladur in the 1995 presidential election. When Chirac won, he entered a political desert from which he never fully emerged, despite the growing influence of his young protege Sarkozy.

Pasqua had many legal diffulties but while often in court never spent a day in jail. On his death, Sarkozy saluted his “engagement, courage and convictions”. He is survived by his widow, Jeanne.