He entered the Court of Financial Auditors in 1970, but he began a political career in the Neo-Gaullist party RPR.

After Chirac's defeat at the 1988 presidential election, he allied with Charles Pasqua and criticized the abandonment of Gaullist doctrine by the RPR executive.

He accused Alain Juppé and Édouard Balladur of wanting an alignment on liberal and pro-European policies.

As the RPR's official candidate, he lost the 2001 mayoral election in Paris, mostly due to a heavily criticized campaign marred by gaffes and controversy.

Refusing the merger of the Neo-Gaullist party with the right-wing classical forces in the Union for a Popular Movement, he quit politics in 2002.