Aide to France's Royal suspended over gaffe

PARIS, Jan 18 (Reuters) Segolene Royal today suspended her spokesman for a month after he called the Socialist candidate's partner, party leader Francois Hollande, the only liability in her presidential campaign.

The gaffe comes at a bad time for Royal who is facing criticism from within the Socialist party that her bid to become France's first woman president is struggling after two polls showed conservative rival Nicolas Sarkozy taking the lead.

It also comes amid a row about her payment of a tax for rich people and after public divergence with Hollande on tax policy.

''Segolene Royal has only one defect -- her partner,'' her spokesman Arnaud Montebourg told Canal+ television yesterday.

A source in Royal's office said Montebourg had been suspended from his duties for one month.

Montebourg said the comments were supposed to be joke. Today, his office issued an apology and he offered to resign.

''After the comments that were supposed to be humorous last night on ... Canal+, and that were unfortunately badly interpreted, Arnaud Montebourg apologised yesterday evening to Francois Hollande and Segolene Royal,'' the statement said.

''First thing this morning he offered to give up his functions as her spokesman.'' Royal's campaign has been under close scrutiny from her Socialist colleagues in recent days after she distanced herself from Hollande on tax policy last week.

Royal, who is trying to project the image of defender of ''the working class'', has also been attacked over a wealth tax that she and Hollande pay on their assets.

Sarkozy also pays the wealth tax which is applied to people with assets of over 760,000.

REUTERS SHB HT1810