Christine Lagarde, France's new finance minister and the first woman to hold the post, has learnt the art of politics the hard way. Within days of being appointed to her first government job as trade minister in 2005, Ms Lagarde committed the almost unforgivable sin of saying what she really thought.

The former lawyer described French labour law as complicated and burdensome, blaming it for blocking employment. The comment, on national radio, was hardly appreciated by her centre-right UMP political masters and Ms Lagarde, a fluent English speaker, was forced to add the far more diplomatic language of politics to her obvious talents.