Shift to the right in France: Far-right poses credible threat in French presidential electionsTHE TELEGRAPH: Besides his penchant for champagne and singing outmoded French songs, far-Right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is known to like a practical joke.
So when he strode purposefully out of his private office at the National Front's presidential convention outside Paris this weekend towards the press tent, camera crews in tow, nobody seemed overly surprised when he veered off at the last minute into the lavatory.
The cameras were still rolling when he reappeared with a grin, chin jutting forth, to carry on with the presidential show.
At 78, Mr Le Pen can afford such low farce: his popularity ratings have never been better.
An IFOP poll in this weekend's Le Monde showed that 18 per cent of the French say they will "definitely" vote for the National Front chief.
That is nine points more than at the same period before the 2002 election, in which he horrified Europe by coming second to Jacques Chirac. No longer a joke – France is having to take Le Pen's threat seriously by Henry Samuel
Le Pen pledges
Mark Alexander
2 comments:
We have come to think of Europeans as being rather leftish and appeasing for so long now. The table might actually be turning, however. It will not be a pretty sight to behold if they turn to the right, since Europeans have quite a lot of history of extremism, different from the British. Nazi Germany is a very good case in point.
Good news for France. Let nationalism flow across europe!
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