Le Pen upstages frontrunner Macron in surprise visit

French far- right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen upstaged her rival, pro- business centrist Emmanuel Macron, Wednesday by making a surprise visit to an under- threat factory as he was visiting the rust- belt town where it is based.

While Macron had arranged to meet workers’ representatives from the factory without actually visiting the site, Le Pen turned up unannounced at the Whirlpool appliance factory in the northern city of Amiens.

She posed for selfies with workers outside the factory, which is threatened with outsourcing to Poland.

Macron was visiting Amiens after facing criticism for not taking the fight to the far- right leader following his victory in Sunday’s first round of the election.

He is also due to hold a rally in Arras, a city in the economically depressed north where Le Pen topped first- round voting.

“Everyone knows what side Emmanuel Macron is on – he is on the side of the corporations,” Le Pen said, as Macron met Whirlpool union delegates at the local chamber of commerce.

“I am on the workers’ side, here in the car park, not in restaurants in Amiens,” Le Pen said, taunting her rival.

He retorted on Twitter that she had spent “10 minutes with her supporters in a car park in front of the cameras” whereas he had spent “an hour and a half with union representatives and no media.”

Le Pen, 48, was first out of the blocks in campaigning for the run- off, hitting the trail and accusing the pro- EU centrist Macron of representing “runaway globalization” and lacking

love for his country.