Nicolas Sarkozy was reportedly overheard telling Tony Blair on the telephone during a victory party on Sunday night that his choice for his new prime minister was François Fillon.
Mr Sarkozy was then said to have handed the phone to Mr Fillon, an anglophile UMP senator with a British wife, whereupon Mr Blair no doubt expressed his congratulations in his impressive French.
Mr Fillon and Mr Sarkozy have not always been best friends but, since 2005, the former has been the new French president's closest adviser and mastermind behind an "exceptionally vigorous and competitive campaign", as the right-leaning Le Figaro newspaper put it yesterday.
Mr Fillon, 57, from Le Mans, is a former education and social affairs minister with a reputation for strength in pushing through reforms, particularly to the pensions system.
If he does become PM, that experience could be invaluable, given that Mr Sarkozy was arguably elected with a big enough mandate to change France fundamentally and given the prospect of big strikes later this year as he confronts the unions.
For many on the French left, Mr Fillon is arguably a "least worst" option. After his election, Mr Sarkozy spoke of governing for all of France, and Mr Fillon's appointment could be seen in this spirit. Mr Fillon is an old-school Gaullist who supports social inclusiveness.
Unions might feel they can work with him; statements from the big union CFDT said it respected Mr Sarkozy's win. The way reforms are introduced could be critical: detail and personalities could be key to heading off turmoil.
The current labour minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, 56, is also tolerated by the unions and has also been mentioned as a possible prime minister, but Mr Fillon is the clear favourite to succeed Dominic de Villepin. Asked in a pre-election interview if Mr Fillon had the "ideal profile" for prime minister, Mr Sarkozy agreed he had the "profile", but would not elaborate.
Mr Fillon was the minister for Labour under prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's first government, in 2002, which took on the vexed task of starting to reform France's 35-hour week and pensions system. During this period, Mr Fillon, who is married to the Welsh-born Penelope Clarke, from Llanover, gained a reputation for pushing through reforms in the face of street protests and without becoming too unpopular.
Michael Bruter, a senior lecturer in European politics at the London School of Economics, described Mr Fillon as a moderate who had been a senior designer of Mr Sarkozy's planned reforms. Mr Bruter told Guardian Unlimited: "Since his work on pensions, he has had the reputation as a reformer ... he is not despised by the left or the unions. He is an extremely hard worker, ambitious and engaging."
If he does become prime minister, Mr Fillon will be mindful of Mr Villepin's problems following protests last year against the introduction of a law that allowed firms to sack employees under the age of 26 within two years of engaging them. In April last year, President Jacques Chirac announced the scrapping of the legislation, a humiliating turn of events for Mr Villepin.
A new UMP prime minister will, however, presumably be able to rely on firmer backing from President Sarkozy in the face of difficult opposition.
Mr Bruter said the authority provided by Mr Sarkozy's clear victory could be a blessing and a curse for whoever becomes prime minister. "In one way, it will be easier because he has made clear that he wants to tackle reforms, but it could also be difficult as prime minister to get out from under Mr Sarkozy's shadow."
While the president chooses the prime minister, the national assembly can force the government to resign, so the choice of PM must reflect the majority in the chamber.
One thing that is certain is that whoever becomes the next prime minister of France, he will be in charge of a slimmed down administration. The government now has 30 ministers but Mr Sarkozy wants this cut to 15.
If Mr Fillon does enter the Matignon, the French equivalent of 10 Downing Street, Mme Fillon will have a larger media profile on both sides of the channel. The couple, married in 1980 after meeting in France in their 20s while she was a law student, have five children.
The Daily Telegraph has already written a piece this week about her, noting she is proud of her Welsh background and suggesting the keen horsewoman "may be reluctant to abandon her animals and the couple's stunning 12th century country chateau to join the political circuit in Paris".
The new President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy has appointed François Fillon to head the new French government. Fillon's predecessor Dominique de Villepin stepped down yesterday, and formally handed over the post during a ceremony today.

The nomination did not come as a surprise after the British newspaper the '''' had reported on May 8 that Sarkozy had introduced Fillon to Tony Blair in a telephone conversation.

François Fillon (53) has been the political advisor of Sarkozy in the  for the past 2 years, and he was Sarko's campaign leader during the recent presidential elections. Fillon has experience in negotiating with the trade unions, having undertaken controversial reforms of the  and the pension system. Sarkozy in his inauguration speech on Wednesday reiterated his plans to reform the French labour and social system, and Fillon will have to oversee these reforms as the new Prime Minister. Sarkozy said he wants to make the economy more flexible and lessen social tensions.


'''' reported that Fillon is an Anglophile; his wife Penelope Clarke, with whom he has 5 children, was born in Wales. Ideologically, Fillon is being described as a moderate left-leaning member of the conservative UMP party.

Fillon had his first experience as a minister in 1993 when he became Minister for the Higher education and Research under PM . He later became Minister for the Post office, Telecommunications and Space, then Minister for the social Affairs, Work and Solidarity, and finally Minister for national Education, the Higher education and Research. At the university, he studied public law and political sciences.

Sarkozy might announce his cabinet of 15 ministers as early as Friday, half of which are going to be women, he said. Fillon will lead the UMP in the parliamentary elections next month. A poll on Wednesday predicted a 1.5% increase in votes for the UMP, up to 40%, compared to 28% status-quo for the allied socialists.

Reports say that Sarkozy has offered the foreign minister post to , co-founder of , who is seen as being on the left in French politics.