No president of France's Fifth Republic has enjoyed a happy exit from the Élysée Palace. The founding father, Charles de Gaulle, was forced out by a referendum. His successor, Georges Pompidou, died of cancer in office. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was so stunned by defeat in 1981 that he was said to be unable to look at himself in the mirror for months. The 14-year reign of François Mitterrand ended in national depression, scandal and leftwing questioning as to how the rosy bubble of the great victory of 1981 had burst so comprehensively.

When he succeeded Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac promised to be something very different: a glad-hander who pledged to heal the "social fracture" splitting France and who would raise his country to the status of a "beacon" in the world. Now, he is going in drab circumstances, having proved to be his own worst enemy - a political fighter who does not know what to do when he wins; a man who loves personalised politics, one whose frame of reference does not allow him to move beyond rhetoric to come up with solutions to his country's ills and who leaves office surrounded by a swirling cloud of corruption allegations.