For President Sarkozy, a triumphant week ended with the sweet smell of revenge today.

As he laps up the plaudits for his role in the release of the medical workers imprisoned in Libya, his greatest rival - Dominique de Villepin - is staring at a political abyss.

Mr de Villepin has been placed under formal investigation for allegedly meddling in a shadowy plot to prevent Mr Sarkozy from becoming Head of State.

Not only did the plot fail but it appears to have backfired on the former prime minister, whose career is threatened by the affair.

Mr Sarkozy always said he was the victim of a manoeuvre designed to smear him with claims that he had received kickbacks from the sale of French frigates to Taiwan.

Today, he appears vindicated.

Never the sort to forgive and forget, he is almost certain to toast Mr de Villepin’s fall with orange juice - the favourite beverage of the teetotal president - as he completes an official visit to Africa.

The feud between the two men - who sat in the same Cabinet and are nominally from the same centre-right party - is so poisonous that Mr Sarkozy will enjoy rival’s plight.

He sees Mr de Villepin has a second rate reincarnation of Joseph Fouché, Napoleon’s masterfully manipulative police chief.

But Mr Sarkozy has another dream - of seeing his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, caught up in the so-called Clearstream scandal.

He detests Mr Chirac almost as much as he detests Mr de Villepin and believes the former president was at the origin of the smear campaign.

However, Mr Sarkozy should be wary of the aftermath of the scandal, which will leave the already fractious French Right more divided than ever.

For now, the divisions are hidden by apparently unanimous support for the man they call Super-Sarko.

But when he trips up, supporters of Mr Chirac and Mr de Villepin will re-emerge from the woodwork. And they too will want revenge

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