Defeated Le Pen ‘handicap’ to feuding Right

MARINE LE PEN is a hindrance to her party for the majority of French, a poll out yesterday showed, as the beleaguered Front National leader sought to quell a deepening party feud in the wake of her presidential defeat.

The poll coincided with the far-right leader’s prime-time media return three months after being trounced by Emmanuel Macron following a catastrophic finale to her campaign. Some 52 per cent of the French found Ms Le Pen, 49, who is also an MP, a “handicap” for the Front National (FN), according to the Odoxa-denstu Consulting poll.

However, only 40 per cent of the French saw Marion Maréchal-le Pen, her niece, a hindrance. Ms Maréchal-le Pen has withdrawn from politics to spend more time with her family.

On holiday, and suffering from “backache”, Ms Le Pen had remained all but silent for the past two months as ten- sions mounted between top FN brass over who was to blame for her failure.

The feud is pitting Florian Philippot, 35, Ms Le Pen’s number two in her campaign, against the party’s other five vice-presidents, including Louis Aliot, Ms Le Pen’s partner. The anti-philippot camp blame him for her defeat, saying he wrongly focused on pulling France out of the euro rather than anti-immigration, the party’s stock in trade.