LAST week, photographs documenting the French president’s alleged affair with an actress were spread over seven pages of a magazine. The photographs of Francois Hollande in a ‘human cannonball’ helmet on the back of a scooter, were widely ridiculed.

The revelations that his security detail left him unattended all night, returning with croissants in the morning, seemed wonderfully Gallic. But Mr Hollande is not the first.

In 1899, Félix Faure died during sex with his mistress at the Elysée Palace. And in later years Presidents Chirac, Giscard d’Estaing and Mitterand all succumbed to temptation.

Indeed, the latter, who kept two households at public expense for 20 years, said, ‘So what?’ when asked about his illegitimate daughter.

Until now, that summed up the French attitude to such peccadilloes. But this time may be different. Hollande’s popularity rating is just 22 per cent – the lowest ever for a modern French president.

Polls show the public also detests his ‘First Mistress’, Valerie Trierweiler. There’s been scant sympathy for her hospitalisation since the news. Indeed, it seems Hollande’s critics are no longer willing to tolerate distractions of any kind. France teeters on the edge of recession, with unemployment of 10.5 per cent, negative growth and soaring prices.

Hollande’s socialist government’s 75 per cent tax rate has led to an exodus of high earners. And his legalisation of gay marriage and tinkering with prostitution laws have alienated many voters. The more he’s been reviled at home, the more Hollande has sought adventures abroad, intervening in Libya, Mali and Central African Republic. His major speech this week on France’s economic turmoil was continually interrupted by questions about ‘le sex scandal’.

For the first time, it seems the French understand that the sexual shenanigans of a President do merit public scrutiny, particularly if they challenge the integrity of the role.