Клуб "Преступление и наказание"

A piece from today's BBC election coverage of the French election campaign, on the Socialist candidate Segolene Royal:

There's a fascinating new book out in English "Segolene Royal - a biography" by the British writer Robert Harneis [...]. It's a good read, and casts some light on an intriguing and complex character, who still puzzles me. I'm not sure I go along with Mr H's contention that Segolene's military father was not as strict as she has hinted. His line that at the time she was growing up "every French ironmonger sold a whip, rather like a small cat o' nine tails, for punishing naughty children," made me shiver.

[the bold is mine_Expat]

Would this implement be the martinette mentioned in "Frank and I"?

I wonder what exactly Mme Royale has hinted, when and to whom .