Newly appointed French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal took France’s political and media spheres by surprise on Thursday as he named controversial politician Rachida Dati his culture minister. Her arrival in the new-look centrist cabinet was unexpected given that Dati was a spokesperson for center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential campaign and was Minister of Justice from 2007 to 2009 under his presidency. The appointment was made as part of a government cabinet reshuffle rolled out by Attal just two days after he became France’s youngest-ever prime minister in a move by President Emmanuel Macron to reboot his presidency, which...
