THE GUARDIAN: Leader of France's National Front has congratulated David Cameron on his controversial speechThe leader of France's National Front has praised David Cameron for what she says is an endorsement of her party's far-right views on multiculturalism and immigration.
Marine Le Pen was elected to lead the National Front last month. She claimed the prime minister's speech on the failures of multiculturalism showed he was taking Britain's Conservatives towards her stance on the issue. "It is exactly this type of statement that has barred us from public life [in France] for 30 years," she told the Financial Times. "I sense an evolution at European level, even in classic governments. I can only congratulate him."
Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, was among European leaders listening to Cameron's speech in Munich at the weekend. He is accused of having played into the hands of rightwing extremists by talking of the failings of multiculturalism within hours of one of the biggest anti-Islam rallies ever staged in Britain.
Cameron called for a new "muscular liberalism", promoting British values and national identity. A policy of "passive tolerance" had only served to encourage Islamist extremism, he argued. >>> David Batty | Thursday, February 10, 2011
