By publishing his book Spokespersonsubtitled Personal reflections from the official voice of the Home OfficeCamille Chaize knew that she was marking the end of her five-year term at Place Beauvau. “At a time when this book which is so much like me is about to be released, I must, as you will easily understand, put an end to the mission of spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior which was entrusted to me in December 2019 “she wrote on her LinkedIn account, Monday January 20.
The police commissioner was clearly aware that the frank tone of her 300-page essay was going to cost her her job, even if she specifies having received the approval of Gérald Darmanin for its publication: in the acknowledgments, she assures that the former minister of the Interior, now holder of the Justice portfolio, “immediately understood the interest of this testimony”. She also pays tribute to Christophe Castaner, her predecessor, who recruited her.
On the other hand, she is much harsher with the Alliance Police nationale union, classified on the right, and the National Rally (RN), which she scratches. The Chained Duck also assures, in an article published Tuesday, that it is officials of these two entities who “got the head of the spokesperson”. The office of the Minister of the Interior, however, denied to franceinfo the information from the weekly, according to which Bruno Retailleau had received a letter from the management of the RN demanding the dismissal of Camille Chaize. Contacted by franceinfo, Alliance said it did not want to comment on these accusations and the RN did not respond to our requests.
Franceinfo was able to consult this work, which appears Thursday January 23 in bookstores. Here are the passages that concern the party and the union.
A criticism of the “power” of “very powerful” police unions
Camille Chaize denounces in particular “the power (…) that the administration decided to leave” to the police unions, which have become “powerful, very powerful”. Referring to a controversial demonstration organized in May 2021, the commissioner is concerned, for example, that these organizations have claimed “the right to shout under the columns of the National Assembly that 'The problem with the police is justice', without any reaction from the central services”.
“If the administration chooses to be weak and not draw the line, we will all pay the consequences.”
Camille Chaizein his book “Spokesperson”
It targets Alliance in particular. The union criticized her in early 2022. She then spoke in several media, after Mediapart revealed that a police officer had insulted a victim of sexual assault. The spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior had at the time condemned comments “unacceptable”, not hiding not his “exasperation” faced with this conduct which, “obviously” was not “not an isolated fact”. “Taken by the enthusiasm of the set, I perhaps went a little hard, she concedes in her book. But, with the testimonies of women that we hear, I know that we seriously have to shake the coconut tree.”
These remarks displease Alliance, which splits a leaflet in Camille Chaize is accused of having “skidded”. Today, the commissioner delivers her straightforward analysis: “It is always disturbing to know that police officers, members of your house criticize, condemn or disagree with your vision. And that, faced with criticism, they refuse to see the facts, or that they see them but “They prefer to adopt a corporatist posture and avoid any questioning. Reality is wrong, it is well known.”she decides. Contacted by franceinfo, Alliance clarified that it did not want to comment on these comments.
In passing, the ex-spokesperson settles scores with those who did not support her during this clash. “I will not have a single phone call from the police chiefs during this media and public battle. Not a single sign of support. Not a single attention,” she laments.
-An attack on former commissioner Matthieu Valet, who became an RN MEP
A little further, she attacks, without naming him, Matthieu Valet, former spokesperson for the Independent Union of Police Commissioners, who became an RN MEP following the European elections in June 2024. “We can insult him or target him. But above all we must ask ourselves who accepted that, for very long months, he could run around the television sets denouncing at every news item, the 'voyoucracy', the incompetence of justice or rampant immigration, going beyond the scope of his elective mandate”exclaims Camille Chaize, who says she wants “to the senior officials who tacitly agreed to let this unionist police officer do his thing”.
“Some believe that it is in their interest to agitate the extremes and to acclimatize citizens to these discourses. I rather see in it a gross political manipulation, the instrumentalization of a profession, the quest for greater balance of power. radical, to the detriment of national cohesion and the neutrality of the public service”she adds. Contacted by franceinfo, Matthieu Valet did not react.
His need to come out of the “sacrosanct reserve” in the face of the rise of the far right
In the last pages, she returns to Emmanuel Macron's announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly, in June, following the European elections won by the RN. “So here we are. At the foot of the wall. The brown wave ready to crash into it and cross the threshold”she writes, in reference to the unprecedented score of the far-right party. In this sometimes very personal story, she speaks of a “feeling of failure” who the“assails”. “The slow poison of the extreme right of identity and its most radical ideas have infused the debates, irrigated society”, she considers.
The now ex-spokesperson is worried, judging that the Ministry of the Interior “would be immediately impacted” by the coming to power of Marine Le Pen's party. She writes not to count “on a particular resistance among the police”while, in Beauvau, she believes that only “a handful of senior officials” would consider resigning.
After these two elections, however, she continued to play her role as spokesperson and wrote a publication “on the importance of the neutrality of the public service”which she is supposed to embody. But she cannot put it online, because, “in reality, not getting involved is untenable when anti-republican radicalism is expressed, when we observe blatant exploitation, when we hear untruths”.
“My guts are twisting. I am not neutral and I will never be neutral with the extremes. Deep down, I want to come out of this sacrosanct reserve, to defend my republican values loud and clear.”
Camille Chaizein his book “Spokesperson”
After a few days of reflection in this period of “political panic”a conclusion is imposed on her: she will resign in the event of the election of a government “diametrically opposed to [ses] values and [ses] principles”. After the early legislative elections, the spokesperson is not packing her bags at Place Beauvau. However, “something has definitely broken inside me”, she slips.
“Some people may not appreciate that I confide like this, without filter”writes Camille Chaize. But, she concludes, “being a spokesperson is not being complacent but, on the contrary, being demanding of one's institution. It is not being complicit but an actor in its transformation, spurred by true language and transparent words that change a state in fact”.
