The gloves are off in French politics, following President Jacques Chirac's attacks on the government in a televised interview on Saturday.

Allies of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who is expected to be Mr Chirac's main rival in next April's presidential election, have been hitting back.

The Socialist Party's first secretary, Francois Hollande, set the tone.

There are two sides to Mr Chirac, he said - one is the culture of exaggeration, the other irresponsibility. Why does everything, he asked, have to be based on parody and falsification?

Pre-emptive strike

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Socialist leader in the National Assembly, called the president's interview on Saturday "disproportionate and pathetic".

Both were responding to Mr Chirac's wide-ranging attack on the Socialist Government of Mr Jospin, which he blamed for rising crime and failing to launch key economic reforms.

Commenting on the interview, the financial daily, Les Echos, said France had never witnessed such a strong condemnation of the prime minister by the president.

It had all the feel of a pre-emptive strike. With the presidential elections only months away, supporters of Mr Jospin may now step up their criticism of the scandal surrounding Mr Chirac.

Investigating judges are examining accusations of sleaze involving the president when he was mayor of Paris in the early 1990s.