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Marine Le Pen in political attack on her father after he belittles Holocaust
Source: The Guardian
Marine Le Pen in political attack on her father after he belittles Holocaust
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Wednesday 8 April 2015 12.01 BST
France’s far-right Front National has been plunged into an all-out war between its president, Marine Le Pen, and her father Jean-Marie, after he made comments belittling the Holocaust and defending Philippe Pétain, the leader of France’s Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in the 1940s.
In an unprecedented attack on her father that marks her first move to cut him out of the party he founded, Marine Le Pen issued a scathing press release warning that the 86-year-old would be prevented from standing in regional elections in the south of France.
“Jean-Marie Le Pen seems to have descended into a strategy somewhere between scorched earth and political suicide,” she said. “His status as honorary president does not give him the right to hijack the Front National with vulgar provocations seemingly designed to damage me, but which unfortunately hit the whole movement.”
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is currently an MEP, founded the Front National in 1972 and under him it became the most successful far-right, xenophobic party in western Europe. When his youngest daughter Marine took over the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe party in 2011 she led a public relations drive to rid it of its jack-booted imagery and anti-Semitic overtones. She has since sought to move the Front National from a protest vote to a major political movement with elected representatives across France, increasing scores in elections, winning mayors, MPs and – for the first time – a presence in the senate.
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Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Wednesday 8 April 2015 12.01 BST
France’s far-right Front National has been plunged into an all-out war between its president, Marine Le Pen, and her father Jean-Marie, after he made comments belittling the Holocaust and defending Philippe Pétain, the leader of France’s Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in the 1940s.
In an unprecedented attack on her father that marks her first move to cut him out of the party he founded, Marine Le Pen issued a scathing press release warning that the 86-year-old would be prevented from standing in regional elections in the south of France.
“Jean-Marie Le Pen seems to have descended into a strategy somewhere between scorched earth and political suicide,” she said. “His status as honorary president does not give him the right to hijack the Front National with vulgar provocations seemingly designed to damage me, but which unfortunately hit the whole movement.”
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is currently an MEP, founded the Front National in 1972 and under him it became the most successful far-right, xenophobic party in western Europe. When his youngest daughter Marine took over the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe party in 2011 she led a public relations drive to rid it of its jack-booted imagery and anti-Semitic overtones. She has since sought to move the Front National from a protest vote to a major political movement with elected representatives across France, increasing scores in elections, winning mayors, MPs and – for the first time – a presence in the senate.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/08/marine-le-pen-front-national-jean-marie-elections-holocaust