Le Pen drama threatens efforts to rejuvenate far-right party

Jean-Marie Le Pen's attempt to steal the show at the National Front's annual May day rally in Paris was perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back for his daughter and successor as party leader.

As Marine Le Pen prepared to address supporters in the Place de l'Opera, her father, who led the French far-right party for four decades, took to the stage uninvited wearing a bright red coat, waved to the crowd for several minutes, a smile on his face, before leaving without a glance at his daughter.

"It was malicious and contemptuous towards me," a fuming Ms Le Pen said the next day, ahead of a crucial party meeting to discuss sanctions against the FN founder for his comments on Nazi gas chambers a month earlier.

"I do not want the FN to be held hostage by Jean-Marie Le Pen's recurring provocations."

On Monday, Ms Le Pen showed who was the boss when the FN suspended its founder's party membership and rid him of his honorary chairmanship - a plan that will be effective after a vote by the members in a general assembly within three months.

The family drama highlights the willingness of the new generation of FN executives, led by Ms Le Pen, to reach more mainstream voters and achieve electoral gains by detoxifying the far-right group.

As Ms Le Pen prepares the FN for the 2017 presidential elections - in which, some polls predict, she could beat incumbent Francois Hollande - the question is whether she is willing to go further in modernising her party.

"For 40 years Jean-Marie was the party's greatest asset, but now he has become arguably its biggest liability," said Jim Shields, professor of French politics at the UK's Aston University.

"If she [Ms Le Pen] plays it right, this could be a really decisive moment in the renewal and potential growth of the party. In that sense, her father may have done her a service."

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"By getting rid of Jean-Marie Le Pen, she is shaking off the references to Vichy, the second world war, and the war in Algeria, which no longer resonate with the younger members anyway."

On Monday, a statement from the party pledged to "elaborate and propose a more complete renovation of the National Front's bylaws". A party that is "modernised in its functioning and perfected in its structures" will be able to prepare for the next elections "in excellent conditions," it added.

The family feud may not be over just yet, however.

Reacting to his suspension, Mr Le Pen did not seem willing to let go, calling the decision a "felony". "I do not acknowledge any link with someone who betrays me in such a scandalous manner," he said.

< > Mr Le Pen, who founded the far-right party in 1972, may now reverse his decision to withdraw from local elections scheduled in December. He had removed himself from the race at his daughter's request after repeating comments about the Nazi gas chambers being a "detail" of the second world war's history.

Meanwhile, another Le Pen family rift could be in the making.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen, Ms Le Pen's 25-year old niece, who is close to her grandfather, is seen as a possible challenger to Florian Philippot, an FN vice-president and defector from the left.

Ms Marechal-Le Pen has at times taken more conservative positions than her aunt on issues such as gay marriage and the role of Islam. She is also seen as closer to her grandfather's economic views.

Mr Philippot has been credited with devising the FN's strategy to lure working class voters disillusioned by Mr Hollande's Socialist party as well as euro-sceptics disappointed by Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party.

This has meant putting greater emphasis on economic policies such as a return to the franc and state intervention, in addition to the party's traditional anti-immigration stance.

The strategy has borne fruit: the FN attracted about a quarter of the votes in local elections earlier this year, ahead of the Socialists. The FN came first with 25 per cent of the votes in European parliamentary elections last year.

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