EIGHT women-one of whom jumped from a bridge-claim Eric Zemmour molested or harassed them

The new hero of the French far-Right formally launched his presidential campaign this week, via an incendiary video depicting two very different nations.

One was a bygone Gallic idyll, where people cycled serenely through the streets of Paris, marvelling at such historic landmarks as Notre Dame.

The other was a powder-keg of religious and cultural division; a France now supposedly under siege from unchecked immigration and Islamic fundamentalism.

Deliberately inflammatory though this juxtaposition was, even his detractors had to concede that Eric Zemmour's ten-minute film, which name-checked a litany of (white, French-born) icons, from Joan of Arc to Brigitte Bardot, was a propaganda masterstroke — one that could extend his poll lead over his extreme Right-wing rival Marine Le Pen and pile pressure on the increasingly inept-looking incumbent, Emmanuel Macron.

French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour and Sarah Knafo, pictured in Paris in April. A few days ago, Ms Knafo - his campaign manager and muse - was revealed to be expecting his baby, although he is married with three grown-up children

Suggesting that he could return France to the glorious days of La Belle Epoque, the former TV current affairs show star added a theatrical touch by hunching gravely over a period-piece microphone propped on his library desk, replicating the scene when General Charles de Gaulle rallied the Resistance against Nazi occupation in June 1940.

His performance will surely have impressed his campaign manager and muse Sarah Knafo, 35 years his junior, who was revealed a few days ago to be expecting his baby, although he is married with three grown-up children.

In 2018, I have learnt, Ms Knafo wrote a 'practical guide' to the deportation of immigrants interned in France.

Yet as she watched the 63-year-old firebrand present himself as a morally upright traditionalist, one beautiful but troubled young Belgian woman felt only disgust.

Writer Aurore Van Opstal, 31, claims that when she briefly met him, two years ago, he subjected her to a sordid sexual ordeal.

It was suggested that their affair might enhance the perceived virility of a man who, with his scrawny 5ft 4in frame, receding hairline and careworn features, hardly exudes machismo. (Above, Ms Knafo and Zemmour)

'I watched the film for a couple of minutes, then I had to stop because it made me feel sick,' she told me.

'Zemmour is like all these powerful men: Bill Clinton, JFK, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (the disgraced former International Monetary Fund chief who allegedly sexually assaulted a New York hotel chambermaid, hired harems of call-girls and participated in orgies). He believes he can do whatever he wants. That he's untouchable.'

And, as I discovered while investigating Zemmour's surge in popularity, Ms Van Opstal is not the only woman to accuse him of predatory behaviour.

Seven others now allege he either molested or behaved inappropriately towards them.

They include a young press officer who claims to have retained a bombshell text message she allegedly received from Zemmour after she rejected his advances in 2018. 'So, I'll wait until you invite me into your home to rape you!' it apparently says.

As yet, the full details of these disturbing allegations have been published by only one major French news outlet, the respected website Mediapart.

Last weekend, when the French magazine Closer revealed that Zemmour, who has been married to a prominent lawyer for almost 40 years, was expecting a baby with 28-year-old Ms Knafo, the scandal was widely dismissed with a Gallic shrug. It was suggested that their affair might enhance the perceived virility of a man who, with his scrawny 5ft 4in frame, receding hairline and careworn features, hardly exudes machismo. (Above, Ms Knafo and Zemmour)

And however disturbing the claims may be, it must be stressed that they remain unproven. As Zemmour has not been arrested or charged, the truth has not been established by any court.

While his campaign gathers momentum, however, the allegations are creeping into mainstream profiles on him in the influential Paris newspapers — which is potentially damaging to him, since the #MeToo movement is belatedly throwing the spotlight on high-profile Frenchmen.

In the Parisian corridors of power, though, there is a longstanding acceptance — indeed, even an ill-concealed admiration — of libidinous politicians. From Nicolas Sarkozy to Francois Hollande and Francois Mitterrand to Jacques Chirac (who became known as 'Mr Three Minutes, Shower Included'), philandering presidents with many mistresses, and sometimes illegitimate offspring, abound.

So last weekend, when the French magazine Closer revealed that Zemmour, who has been married to a prominent lawyer for almost 40 years, was expecting a baby with 28-year-old Ms Knafo, the scandal was widely dismissed with a Gallic shrug.

It was suggested that their affair might enhance the perceived virility of a man who, with his scrawny 5ft 4in frame, receding hairline and careworn features, hardly exudes machismo.

Gaelle Lenfant (pictured) is a municipal councillor in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence. Now in her early 50s, she alleges Zemmour sexually assaulted her at a Socialist Party summer camp in 2004

Last weekend, when a protester at his Marseille rally gave him a one-fingered salute, Zemmour responded in kind

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