Nicolas Sarkozy could be feeling some satisfaction this week after his right-of-centre UMP party won a local by-election on Sunday night despite weeks of government scandal.

Even his most loyal followers in the UMP stronghold on the outskirts of Paris had feared that voters would deliver a sharp rebuke to the French president over accusations of nepotism. The charges surround his inexperienced son’s campaign to head the state agency that runs France’s wealthiest business district.