President Sarkozy yesterday appointed as Foreign Minister a socialist rights crusader who backed the US-British invasion of Iraq, causing bemusement and some anger in the French political world.

The appointment of Bernard Kouchner, 67, one of the most popular and outspoken public figures in France, was the most novel in a new “inclusive” government that mixes left-wing and centrist politicians with Mr Sarkozy’s Gaullist lieutenants.

The Socialist Opposition, in whose governments Dr Kouchner had served as Minister for Health and Humanitarian Action, immediately denounced him as a traitor and expelled him from the party. François Hollande, the Socialist leader, said that Dr Kouchner had engaged in “a personal adventure in becoming one more minister in a right-wing government”. During the campaign Dr Kouchner attacked Mr Sarkozy as a “French Ber-lusconi” and a champion of dangerous right-wing ideas.

Denis MacShane, the Labour MP and the former Europe Minister, called the appointment of the charismatic Dr Kouchner, who served as the first UN administrator of Kosovo, amazing and hugely significant: “In my years in politics I do not think we have seen a Foreign Minister in France who starts off so well disposed to a British government.”

Mr Sarkozy, 52, who took office on Wednesday bent on fast and deep reform, has disconcerted his country by coopting opponents and taking direct control rather than leaving government to François Fillon, his Prime Minister.

He also yesterday created new super-ministries for the economy and environment, headed by Jean-Louis Borloo, a popular Social Affairs Minister in the outgoing Cabinet, and Alain Juppé, President Chirac’s former Prime Minister. Mr Jup-pé returned to politics last year after he was convicted for his role in the illicit financing of Mr Chirac’s party while he was deputy Mayor of Paris in the 1980s and early 1990s under the former President. He was given a suspended prison sentence and barred from office for 12 months.

Seven women in the fifteen-member Cabinet include Rachida Dati, 43, the daughter of a Moroccan immigrant workman. Ms Dati, Minister of Justice, is a legal expert who made a splash as a Sarkozy campaign spokeswoman but she has no political experience.

Within hours Dr Kouchner, who campaigned for Ségolène Royal, upset diplomats by supporting her call to threaten a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to curb Chinese support for the Sudanese Government over Darfur.

Dr Kouchner, a 1968 student activist, has dedicated his career to humanitarian relief in war zones since he co-founded the Médecins sans Frontières organisation after working in Bi-afra in 1971. He is best known for developing the theory of “humanitarian intervention” to justify international action against dictators who flout human rights. In 2003 he was the only senior public figure in France to approve the intervention in Iraq. A staunch pro-European, he will implement Mr Sarkozy’s promises to “oppose tyrants and dictators” and inject more morality in France’s dealings with the world.

Bernard Henri-Lévy, the philosopher who is a friend, said that if he fails to impose morality over realpolitik he should get out quickly: “He is taking an enormous gamble.”

Dr Kouchner, who was never fully trusted by his Socialist colleagues, said that Mr Sarkozy had reassured him that he did not expect him to change his political views. “I am not betraying my camp,” Dr Kouchner said. “I intend to stay on the side of the oppressed.”

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