Le Pens at war over father's defence of Vichy regime

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Independent
By John Lichfield in Paris
27 January 2005


An epic row between father and daughter - over politics, power and the Second World War - is threatening to tear apart France's far-right party, the National Front.

Marine Le Pen, 35, once seen as a possible future leader in succession to her father, Jean-Marie, 76, has distanced herself from the party machine in protest against comments made by M. Le Pen defending German behaviour in France in 1940-44.

Mme Le Pen, who has led a drive to "de-demonise" and modernise the party, is said to have been "furious" that he returned to old themes: minimising Nazi atrocities and defending the collaborationist Vichy regime. Her friends in the party say she feels "stabbed in the back".

Although she has made no public comment on the quarrel, she has decided not to sit for the time being in the eight-person "executive bureau" which runs the National Front. She will also make no public appearances in the campaign against the proposed EU constitution.

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