For once the French right is right

Four days to go and the yes camp is beginning to look resigned to defeat in Sunday's French referendum on the EU constitution.

Jacques Chirac met regional newspaper hacks yesterday and apparently gave the strong impression he thought the game was up; Nicolas Sarkozy (the only man who stands to benefit whatever the result) is widely reported to be quipping: "The referendum? It'll be a small no... or a big no."

The interior minister, Dominique de Villepin, is no longer denying that all the information coming in from the government's eyes and ears in the provinces, the prefects, is confirming the polls, of which 10 in succession have now put the no camp ahead on up to 53% of the vote.

And the ruling centre right's response to this dismal state of affairs - apart from wheeling out the president for one last salvo - is starting to come through loud and clear: it's the left's fault. We've done our job, is the line; there's no more market share to be grabbed on the right. It'll be the left's voters who will decide the outcome of the referendum.