If you support segregated cycling infrastructure in Hackney

It was a huge departure from the political status quo and went against any appeal to populism. It was, I think, a hugely unpopular commitment and took a huge amount of effort and commitment to steer through the administrative bureaucracy and public opinion.

Sounds like governmental suicide. Was it Chirac? Did he get away with it because the only alternative at that time was the National Front, and he was riding a landslide?