The speech was received with horror on the Left, with commentators on social media observing that Mr Sarkozy sounded indistinguishable from Marine Le Pen, the Front National leader whom polls suggest could reach the second round run-off in the presidential election next year.

Mr Sarkozy’s speech came as debate continued to rage in France over a ban on the burkini after armed police were photographed on a beach in Nice forcing a woman to remove her headscarf and other articles of clothing.

The images provoked an outcry on social media, leading Christian Estrosi, the deputy mayor of Nice, to threaten he would prosecute “those who spread photographs of our municipal police officers and those uttering threats against them on social networks”.

Support for banning the all-covering swimsuits is not confined to the Right, however. Manuel Valls, the French Socialist prime minister, again reiterated his belief that the burkini was a “symbol of the enslavement of women” and must be banned.