President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday confirmed his intention of taking France back into full participation in the Nato alliance, triggering a backlash from across the political spectrum and exposing divisions in his own centre-right party.

Forty-three years after President Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of Nato’s integrated military command in a defiant show of independence from the US, Mr Sarkozy said it was time to resume a full role in Nato. “Our strategic thinking can’t remain frozen when the world around us has completely changed,” he said.