He studied at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, where he obtained a master's degree in public law, then a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées (DESS) in local administration.

In 2003, Alain Juppé, President for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), put him in charge of leading the debate and explaining the subject of pensions reform during a "Tour of France".

At the same time he was part of the 'Club de la boussole,' a group of deputies who declared their loyalty to then-President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

His mandate as Health Minister was marked by the chikungunya epidemic and the law against smoking in public places, ratified in 2004.

On 19 June 2007 Bertrand was appointed Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity in Fillon's second government after the first one had handed in its resignation the day before.

Following the 2012 French legislative election, Bertrand announced his candidacy for the post the UMP parliamentary group's chair.

[7][8] In 2020, Bertrand publicly expressed interest in challenging incumbent President Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 French presidential election.

[17] He was the best-placed traditional conservative in opinion polls for the 2021 Republican congress,[18] but ended up in fourth place.

In 2013, Bertrand led a group of fellow UMP politicians who joined forces with Europe Ecology – The Greens in trying to force a constitutional review of a new law introduced by the Socialist Party which expanded government powers to monitor phone and Internet connection data.

[19] In 2014, Bertrand advocated a "rewrite" or "repeal" of the law opening marriage to same-sex couples, indicating to Valeurs actuelles: "I can't resign myself to seeing the rules of filiation turned upside down to this extent.

In particular, he wants to cut production taxes by half, believing that the measures undertaken in this direction by the government are insufficient.

[25] During his presidential campaign in 2021, Bertrand argued that France should reassert itself by leaving NATO’s integrated command.