Battle for French right begins in earnest

The bloody battle for the soul of the French right began in earnest on Sunday as two political heavyweights set out their leadership bids to head Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party.

Jean-François Copé, a former budget minister once called Sarkozilla for his ruthless Sarkozy-style ambition, launched his leadership bid with a speech in shirtsleeves in front of 2,000 supporters in the south of France. Currently secretary general of the party, Copé, who for years was one of Sarkozy's fiercest rivals within the party, delivered a staunch speech evoking his childhood and love of France.

While Sarkozy once famously described himself as a "mixed blood" Frenchman, Copé spoke of his own foreign roots and Jewish family, who were hidden by a French family during the concentration camp round-ups in 1943.

He said "a French flame burned in me" from a young age and that he was raised in the "cult of France".

A lawyer, MP and mayor of Meaux, just outside Paris, he was a champion of France's ban on the niqab, or Muslim full-face veil, and is seen as staunchly on the right of the party.

He sees himself as a crusader of the right, has figurines of Zorro and Napoleon on his desk and has been called arrogant by his detractors. Nicknamed JFC and known for his electric keyboard gigs, he vowed in his speech to head an unabashed right, "with no complexes", which would be strong in its opposition to the left and political correctness.

Further north, François Fillon, Sarkozy's former prime minister and currently favourite in the polls, confirmed his bitter rivalry to Copé by presiding over a rural spit-roast with supporters. Fillon's summer campaigning has been limited after he broke his foot in a motorbike accident in Capri while staying with the chairman of the Italian motoring giant Ferrari, a reminder of Sarkozy-style holidays. But he and Copé have still managed to snipe at each other via allies and the press.

Fillon, 58, a Gaullist, has played on his image as what supporters say is an experienced and calming political statesman. He recently described himself as more serene and pragmatic than Sarkozy, saying the former president once complained he was too prudent. This prompted Copé to question the value of prudence in politics.

A recent Ifop poll found 48% of UMP supporters want Fillon to lead the party, compared with 24% for Copé. But only party members can vote in the November ballot and Copé's supporters say he has more sway over the party apparatus.

Behind the battle to lead the UMP – a broad coalition party of moderate centrists and rightwingers created by Jacques Chirac in 2002 – is the key issue of who will be the right's presidential candidate in 2017. Although the new party president will not automatically become presidential candidate, whoever wins the leadership vote in November will be in pole position.

The ghost of Sarkozy hangs over the race. One poll this month showed 53% of UMP supporters wanted Sarkozy to return and run again for president in 2017. Although his allies say this is highly unlikely, the party base has been displaying a marked "Sarkostalgia", with 2,000 gathering in Nice this weekend for a Friends of Sarkozy meeting in his honour. Both Copé and Fillon have been competing over who can lay claim to being closest to Sarkozy's ideas and standing.

The divided and weakened UMP is faced with rebuilding itself locally and electorally. The French left now controls the presidency, parliament and senate, as well as the regions and most big cities. The rise of the far-right Front National and its ideas have sparked bitter rows within the UMP about where to place itself in the national debate.

The UMP's other rising stars

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet

Known as NKM, the former ecology minister, 39, was Sarkozy's spokeswoman during the election campaign. She has been trying to undo her reputation as bourgeois and aloof, made worse by an election radio appearance when asked the price of a Paris metro ticket she said €4 instead of €1.70. She has promised a "third way" for the party and spent the summer campaigning across France in a caravan dubbed the NKM-mobile. Asked about the difficulty in getting 8,000 party backers, something easy for the two party bigwigs leading the race, she said: "I'm not going to get involved in a contest over who can pee the furthest."

Bruno Le Maire

The 43-year-old who was Europe minister then agriculture minister under Sarkozy is tipped as an important new face in a party which he says is in dire need of renewal. Staunchly pro-Europe, and at ease speaking English and German, he declared his UMP leadership bid this month but is polling at around 2%. This month he is to publish his first novel based on the life of the Austrian conductor, Carlos Kleiber.

Xavier Bertrand

Sarkozy's former health minister, and one-time secretary general of the UMP, the MP and mayor, 47, is yet to declare his bid. He has played the card of the provincial outsider with good networks in the party machine.

Christian Estrosi

A former grand prix motorcycle racer, the hardline mayor of Nice is a staunch Sarkozy supporter, who recently co-founded the group Friends of Sarkozy. He has yet to formalise his bid and remains an outsider in the leadership contest.