Court cancels Jean-Marie Le Pen's suspension from National Front

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33369219

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A French court has cancelled the suspension of France's Jean-Marie Le Pen from the National Front (FN), the far-right party he founded.

The party said it would appeal, and that members were still due to vote on Mr Le Pen's position.

Mr Le Pen, 86, was suspended following a feud with his daughter Marine, who now leads the party.

Marine Le Pen is trying to steer the party away from its racist and anti-Semitic past.

The court in Nanterre ruled that the correct procedure had not been followed in suspending Mr Le Pen. It ordered the party to reinstate to him "all the rights attached to his status as a member and, if necessary, as honorary president".

It added that from Friday morning he could "start using his office again and all the means that were at his disposal and sit in all the bodies in which he was taking part as honorary president".

However, FN deputy leader Florian Philippot said party members were taking part in an online ballot that closes on 10 July on whether to cancel Mr Le Pen's honorary presidency.

"In concrete terms, it does not change anything," said FN secretary general Nicolas Bay. "He'll become a member of the Front's leadership for one week, but there won't be a meeting during that time."

The feud between father and daughter erupted when Mr Le Pen repeated his view that the Holocaust was "a detail of history".

He also stated that he had never considered France's wartime collaborationist leader Philippe Petain a traitor and labelled Prime Minister Manuel Valls an immigrant.

Mr Le Pen still holds a seat in the European Parliament and a post as a regional councillor in the south of France.

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