Nicolas Sarkozy is a breath of fresh air; a right-winger unafraid of delivering a tough message to his nation. He sought and won an honest mandate for change.

Out will go restrictive labour practices like the 35-hour week which have cost France millions of jobs, out will go inheritance tax for 95 per cent of the population because "the fruits of a lifetime's work should not be taken by the State". In will come a much tougher stance on immigration and crime.

As Sarkozy bravely notes, the "explosion" of social problems on big housing estates in France is clearly linked to
massive inward migration from Africa and elsewhere.

What a contrast it all makes with the namby-pamby liberalism displayed by almost all leading politicians in Britain. Sometimes it seems as if nobody is prepared to confront wrong-doing and turn down the demands of
noisy interest groups for fear of being turned into some kind of political ogre.

The great advantage Sarkozy now has is that because he did not soft-soap the French public he therefore has a relatively free hand to put his true agenda into practice. Nobody can complain that they were not warned in advance that he would be treading on toes and banging heads together.

The danger for David Cameron is that he is so desperate to occupy the electoral centre ground that he will find it hard to do anything radical should he make it to 10 Downing Street. If his top priority is simply to have a turn on the political train set then that will not bother him unduly. But if he does believe in a smaller State and cutting taxes and
other traditional Tory causes then he may find himself too compromised to enact these changes.

It's all a matter of taste and certainly the British electoral system rewards those who are able to sweep up centre-ground votes. But personally, I would love to see voters given real and stark choices at the next general election.

If people felt that great issues were at stake then maybe we would even end up with an 85 per cent turn-out of the kind that France has just enjoyed. Democracy would be more vibrant and more healthy as a result and nobody could parrot that tiresome old line about politicians being "all the same".