Sarkozy allies turn on ex-president for agreeing to revoke gay marriage laws When you are a statesman who wants to embody France, and more so when you have been the president of France, you do not give in to a crowd. You hold true, you stick to what you previously said," said Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Green party leader Emmanuelle Cosse accused Mr Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, of "using homosexuals for political gain." But the reaction of prominent Sarkozy supporters was more damaging. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a former minister and spokeswoman for his failed 2012 presidential re-election campaign, said she was "not at all in agreement" with the plan to repeal gay marriage. Christian Estrosi, an MP and mayor of Nice and a staunch supporter of thrice-married Mr Sarkozy, said that gay marriage signified progress in French society, while another close associate, former minister Valérie Pécresse, said it was "not humanly possible" to repeal the laws. An opinion poll released last week found that 68 per cent of the French were in favour of same-sex marriage, and 53 per cent supported adoption by homosexual couples, which was also made possible by the Socialist legislation passed last year. Of the other two contenders for the UMP party leadership, one, Bruno Le Maire, is against repealing gay marriage laws, while the other, Hervé Mariton, has come out in favour. Mr Sarkozy has been holding US-style town hall meetings across France in his bid to take the UMP leadership in the vote whose first round is on November 29. He has not explicitly confirmed it, but there is little doubt that he also harbours ambitions to run again for the French presidency in 2017. Polls say he is the clear favourite to win the UMP leadership vote, but his chances of moving into the Élysée Palace for a second time are poor, despite the record low popularity ratings of the Socialist President François Hollande. One recent poll said that 75 per cent of the French believe that Mr Sarkozy has flunked his political comeback bid over the past two months. Since leaving power, Mr Sarkozy has faced a slew of legal cases ranging from influence-peddling to illegal party funding. He denies all wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a politically-motivated plot to halt his comeback.