He served in many government posts under Jacques Chirac, Raymond Barre and Michel Rocard, and was Mayor of Saint-Étienne from 1964 to 1977.
[1] In 1988, while serving as Minister of Public Service in Rocard's government, Durafour was the subject of a reply to his suggestion to "exterminate the Front National"[2] which provoked a "storm of criticism".
[3][4] Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far right defeated presidential candidate, referred to Durafour as "Mr. Durafour-crematoire", a play on words as "four" is the French term for oven, and "oven crematorium" is a reference to the Nazi death camps of the Second World War.
[4] Alain Juppé responded by stating that "There are words one does not make jokes about" while the French Socialist Party spokesman Jean-Jack Queyranne stated that "Mr.
[4] Le Pen himself stated that he was responding to Durafour's own accusations regarding Le Pen's role in World War II, and that "Mr. Durafour is not just an imbecile but a bum".