Le Pen: No detox for the National Front's unapologetic founder

From his mansion nestled in a leafy enclave of a well-heeled Paris suburb, Jean-Marie Le Pen recalls the days when politics was about taking real punches in the face.

In the 1950s, far-right campaign meetings would inevitably erupt into street brawls with communists. Once, his right eyeball popped out of its socket. He wore a patch for a while and gradually lost sight in his other eye.

"Back then, if you received a blow, you would give it back. You wouldn't go to the police and file a complaint like nowadays. It was a more virile civilisation," he says with a chuckle.

The latest punch thrown at the 86-year-old founder of the far-right National Front (FN) was metaphorical but has threatened to knock him out nonetheless.

Last week, his daughter and successor, Marine Le Pen, suspended him from the party he established in 1972. This was punishment for his repeated comments downplaying Nazi gas chambers as "a detail of the second world war" - he was convicted in 2009 of contesting crimes against humanity during the Nazi occupation - and praising the collaborationist Vichy regime. Unrepentant, Mr Le Pen may also lose his honorary chairman title.

In essence, the man who built a movement that seized on xenophobia and thrived by stigmatising foreigners is now regarded by its leaders as too poisonous for it.

The row is one aspect of an annus horribilis, he says. First, a fire burnt down his home in nearby Rueil. Last month, shortly after the family feud, he "nearly died twice in one day" at the hospital where he was treated for heart problems. The French finance ministry also suspects he is hiding several million euros in Switzerland, an allegation he dismisses with laughter: "I learnt [from them] the good news that I had gold bars!"

The suspension is viewed by many as a logical next step in a "detoxification" strategy being pursued by Ms Le Pen, who has her eyes set on the second round of the presidential elections in 2017 and is determined to reach a broader base of voters.

But after more than four decades of being a fixture of French politics, the party patriarch may not abandon the fight so easily. He is setting up an organisation which, he claims, will not compete against the FN but provide his followers with a platform to express their views.

"If you stop being the devil, if you 'detoxify', then you just become the rightwing [of the centre-right]," he says. "There is no longer a raison d'etre for the FN."

Le Pen slideshow In the short term, Mr Le Pen's project presents a disruptive challenge for his daughter. But analysts and pollsters do not believe it will dent her electoral prospects.

Since taking over the FN in 2011, Ms Le Pen has maintained her father's anti-immigration stance, which remains appealing to many voters. At the same time, with the emergence of a younger generation of members, the founder's influence has dwindled. Mr Le Pen's approval ratings among FN sympathisers has fallen to 7 per cent this year, from 32 per cent in January, according to pollsters BVA. His daughter has gained 5 percentage points to 90 per cent.

The 19th century villa in hilly St Cloud seems to mirror its owner's state - one of faded grandeur. Paint peels off walls holding large paintings, including one of Mr Le Pen in a pirate costume; Napoleonic-style clocks gather dust; the blue and yellow upholstery of the sofa has been rubbed thin through overuse.

Mr Le Pen's cluttered office is filled with books, statues of Joan of Arc - a Catholic who fought against English invaders - and model ships. He points out one of particular interest, a replica of a slave boat: "Look, you can see the breathing holes."

Mr Le Pen seems less bitter than in the days that followed his suspension, when he called his daughter a traitor. He says now that he will "probably" vote for her in 2017 and continue his fundraising activities for the FN.

Reflecting on Ms Le Pen's recent appearance in New York at a Time magazine ceremony crowning the most influential people of the year, he remarks: "It's not the Nobel Prize, but I am happy whenever something good happens to her."

Mr Le Pen concedes that unlike his daughter, he may not like power as much as being in opposition. He was caught off guard in 2002 when he faced Jacques Chirac in a presidential run-off. But father and daughter agree on the need to end "massive and arrogant immigration", a theme that has resonated in France amid rising anxiety over unemployment and identity.

"When there's one immigrant family in your building, no problem, but when there are three, four, five, you become a minority in your own country," he says. "A lot of these youngsters don't have jobs, they are idle, they mess around. What else to do apart from driving around on motorbikes, stolen because it's cheaper, vroom vroom . . ."

<

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.

"I have never been an employee. I owned a small business for 25 years. I have been a fisherman, a coal miner . . . I am in favour of freedom of enterprise, I have always sided with the free men," he says.

< > The FN's pledge to keep the retirement age at 60 is "populist", he complains. A plan to quit the euro is little more than a ploy by Mr Philippot to bolster the FN's economic platform, he claims. As for the FN's record electoral gains in local and European parliamentary elections, they are mainly due to the mainstream parties' weaknesses.

"Marine is a prisoner of her entourage," Mr Le Pen snaps.

She believes, he says, that "controversy hinders the party", but Mr Le Pen is convinced this is why it has gained prominence.

"One is not obliged to be in politics, but [if] one chooses to be part of an opposition party, one should expect to take knocks in the face," Mr Le Pen explains. "It's like boxing: when he wins, the world champion has a face like this, you know, because he won after the 10th round, and he received plenty of punches. Life is a fight."

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation