Paris - She is young, black, strikingly attractive and France's most popular politician - but perhaps Sports Minister Rama Yade's most eye-catching feature is that she repeatedly says no to President Nicolas Sarkozy. Named secretary of state for human rights by Sarkozy, as part of his avowed intention to have more minorities and women represented in the government, the 32-year-old Senegal-born Yade has made a practice of resisting the president, who is used to getting his own way.
This week she scored an impressive victory when the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, and Sarkozy, gave in to her demand that she be allowed to stand in her home region of Hauts-de- Seine, west of Pa is, in next March's regional elections, not in the northern suburb of Val-d'Oise, as the president and his party had demanded.
That condition was widely seen as retribution for her criticism of Sarkozy's ill-fated attempt to have his 23-year old son, Jean, head the public body that runs Europe's largest business district, La Defense.
"We must not give the impression that there is a gap between the protected elites and the little people," she had warned in October. To which an enraged Sarkozy reportedly reacted by shouting: "This is too much."
Yade also loudly and publicly protested the electoral move, saying it smacked of "ethnic parachuting", since the Val-d'Oise has a large immigrant population.
UMP spokesman Dominique Paille sharply criticized her reluctance. "When you are a minister you have to carry the party's flag. You must not resist going into battle, whatever it is," he said.
Family Minister Nadine Moreno was more explicit. "When you are not agreed with the policies of the government ... you either shut up or get out," she advised Yade.
But Yade persisted, and on Monday the UMP conceded that she had won.
This was not Yade's first victory over Sarkozy. Earlier in the year, she had been tabbed to run in the elections for the European Parliament, but she refused to do so.
As a result, Sarkozy removed her from the human-rights post and gave her the far less political position of sports minister, perhaps thinking it would dampen her independence.
The contentious relationship between Yade and Sarkozy began very early in the president's term. Six months after he took office, she made headlines by criticizing the visit to Paris of Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi.
"Colonel Gaddafi must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can wipe the blood of his infamies," she had said, putting something of a damper on the visit, which Sarkozy had viewed as a diplomatic triumph.
That declaration led to a long dressing-down at the Elysee Palace. Since then, she has been subject to several such reprimands, by both Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon. But they have apparently had little effect.
If her political "friends" are often put off by her lack of team spirit, the French like it. Surveys consistently show her to be the country's most popular politician, with approval ratings of over 60 per cent.
In addition, a staggering 67 per cent of French adults said in a recent poll that it was not "normal" that Yade be dismissed or forced to resign because of her independence.
That suggests that Sarkozy will have his hands full for some time to come.
