Free Republic

After 38 years at the head of the head of France’s Front National, Jean-Marie Le Pen is hoping to pass on the party leadership to his daughter Marine. With an initiative that is in part a dynastic succession and partly a modernisation strategy similar to those deployed by far-right parties elsewhere in Europe, the FN is gearing up for presidential elections in 2012. Her father's daughter: Marine Le Pen in 2006 Times have changed at the Front National. The era when Jean-Marie Le Pen would bang on about gas chambers being "just one detail of the Second World War," highly...

A leftist candidate backed by an array of political parties successfully staved off his far-right opponent in a mayoral race Sunday that the National Front had hope would start its comeback. Other parties, from communists to President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives, rallied behind Daniel Duquenne whom voters designated the new mayor of Henin-Beaumont, a former mining town in northern France, in a runoff race. The victor was sprayed with tear gas minutes after the results were announced, a police officer said by telephone, confirming reports on France-Info radio and the French TV station iTele. Duquenne was not injured and the aggressor...

In 2002, far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen managed 17 percent of the vote. This time around, he may do even better -- partly because of his charismatic, attractive daughter Marine. She's steering the party away from skinheads and toward the French countryside. After clearing the plates, the waiters are serving the dessert, a fruit tart, after a dinner of vol-au-vent and beef bourguignon. The air is warm and humid in the banquet room of the "Relais du Miel" in Montargis, a small city only two hours south of Paris by car, where 220 guests are sipping coffee and after-dinner drinks....

As the French government tears itself apart amid a trumped-up corruption scandal, and the socialist opposition fails to capitalise on the chaos, Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-Right National Front (FN), has gained record levels of support - without saying a word in public. According to a survey in the news magazine Le Point last week, 22 per cent of the French population has a "favourable opinion" of Mr Le Pen - up five per cent from the previous month. The rating is far higher than the 16 per cent popularity which Mr Le Pen scored in polls four...

It was autumn 1996. Four men were sitting around me in a central London pub. Little distinguished them from the passing commuters. Other than their baseball caps, jailbird tattoos, or talk of white revolution, they might have been just about anyone. Those four men were the leaders of a notorious neo-nazi gang called Combat 18 - the 1 and 8 in the name signify the position of “A” and “H” ("Adolf Hitler") in the alphabet. The gang was connected to Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, a violent “white power” music scene, numerous football hooligan “firms”, and the British National Party...

MANCHESTER, England -- Angry demonstrators emptied a garbage can on the car of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen on Sunday after he spoke in support of the anti-immigration British National Party. Shouting "Nazi scum, off our streets!" about 100 demonstrators slowed Le Pen's car as he tried to leave a hotel in Altrincham on the outskirts of the northern city of Manchester. Le Pen, who has been convicted of racism and anti-Semitism at least six times in France, was appearing at two British National Party events Sunday despite some demands that he be barred from the country. At a...

French National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen is expected to back the British National Party’s European election campaign today. Le Pen is due to speak at a press conference to launch the BNP’s campaign which is being held at a secret location in Manchester this afternoon. A heavy police presence is expected at the event after the Home Secretary David Blunkett warned Le Pen he would be arrested if he stirs up racial hatred during his visit to Britain. Following the press conference the National Front leader will attend a private dinner in Shropshire. The sell-out black-tie function, being held...

Religious leaders and anti-fascist groups have reacted with anger after it was confirmed the controversial leader of France's National Front party, Jean Marie Le Pen, is to visit the West Midlands this weekend. Le Pen, who is a guest of the British National Party, is to speak at a black tie dinner at an undisclosed location on Sunday. His visit is expected to attract the BNP's top brass to the region, who are campaigning for votes in the run-up to the forthcoming European and local elections. The Government last night refused to bar Le Pen from the country despite calls...