French President Francois Hollande today hit back against claims from his former partner that he secretly despises the poor, in his first reaction to Valerie Trierweiler's explosive memoirs.
Speaking to reporters after the NATO summit, Hollande said he was "at the service of the poorest", which he described as his "reason for being".
In one of the most damaging claims in Trierweiler's memoirs, she claimed Hollande had voiced contempt for the poor, saying he called them the "toothless."
Hollande said: "I will never accept that one calls into question what has been my life's commitment," urging also that "the office of the president be respected."
He said he served "the most fragile, the most modest, the most humble and the poorest" people.
The embattled president, who has plunged new lows in recent opinion polls, also stressed he would "go to the end" of his mandate in 2017.
There is "no opinion poll that can interrupt the mandate that the people have given," he said.
A TNS Sofres poll released yesterday and conducted even before the Trierweiler bombshell showed his approval ratings at 13 percent.
Only one percent of French people said they had "total confidence" in Hollande "to resolve the problems France is currently facing.
