Free Republic

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former leader of the French National Front party, presidential candidate, member of the European Parliament, and patriarch of the Le Pen political family dynasty, has died at the age of 96. A figure who loomed large over French politics over the past five decades, Mr Le Pen was hailed Tuesday by his supporters as a fearless “patriot” and derided by his detractors as a fascist and an antisemite. The Brittany-born politician served as the president of the National Front from 1972 to 2011 and honorary president of the party from 2011 to 2015 when he was...

No longer a joke ? France is having to take Le Pen's threat seriously By Henry Samuel Last Updated: 1:03am GMT 13/11/2006 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. National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, at his party presidential convention in Le...