Jean-Marie Le Pen launches new political party in France
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Version 0 of 1. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the expelled founder of France’s Front National (FN), has launched a new party, adding fuel to a family feud that has dogged his daughter Marine’s campaign to become president. The announcement of the new party on Saturday, to be called “Blue-White-Red rally” after the colours of the French flag, overshadowed an annual gathering of Marine’s FN taking place in Marseille, three months before regional elections. Jean-Marie, 87, who was kicked out of the FN last month, told supporters at a restaurant in the city: “You will not be orphans. We can act in a similar way to the FN, even if we are not part of it.” Related: The Le Pen family: family feud ends in political parricide | Observer profile Marine, who succeeded her father as leader in 2011, dismissed the move. She said: “Everyone is free outside the Front National to create any group he wants. This poses no problem. He does what he wants, he is a free man.” The row with her father erupted last year, when he defended comments he had made in the past about how the gas chambers of the second world war, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed, were a “detail” of history. Polls suggest she could make it to the second round of the presidential election in 2017. |