Couscous-gate threatens to split Front National as power struggle intensifies

Discontent grows in France as fallout from ‘unpatriotic’ restaurant photo highlights party’s divided leadership

A PHOTOGRAPH of Marine Le Pen’s deputy dining at a north African restaurant with other Front National (FN) officials has horrified supporters, who found their “unpatriotic” culinary choice hard to swallow.

The row, dubbed #Couscousgate on social networks, highlights a growing rift within the far-right anti-immigration party, which could further undermine Ms Le Pen’s leadership four months after her defeat in the presidential election.

The picture of Florian Philippot, the party’s vice-president and MEP, with FN colleagues at a restaurant in Strasbourg was posted on Twitter by Kelly Betesh, a party activist.

It infuriated many party loyalists, especially those who oppose efforts by Mr Philippot, who is openly gay, to reform the party and distance it from its anti-semitic past. One tweet called for Mr Philippot, 35, and his companions to be expelled.

“When you’ve been thrown out of the FN, we’ll eat a good choucroute [a French version of the German dish sauerkraut and a Strasbourg speciality] to celebrate, not a couscous.”

Another joked: “I hope it was halal!” and a third said: “Officially they combat globalisation, standardisation etc and defend local regions! Huge joke!”

Mr Philippot, often a target for the party’s most extreme supporters, responded by condemning the criticism as “crassly stupid” and “poisonous” for the FN.

Those loyal to Ms Le Pen accuse his backers of trying to oust her as the party leader.

Formerly unchallenged and idolised by supporters, the daughter of Jeanmarie Le Pen, the FN founder, now faces increasing discontent in the ranks.

The upset has thrown the party into an unprecedented crisis.

“It’s gone from adoration to loathing,” said a disconcerted party official in Ms Le Pen’s parliamentary constituency in the Pas-de-calais department.

Leading party figures have been arguing over policy, pushing supporters into the paths of other political parties.

FN officials say the disputes are causing some supporters to transfer allegiance to the far-left party of Jeanluc Mélenchon, who is emerging as the main leader of the opposition to Emmanuel Macron, the centrist president.

Like Ms Le Pen, Mr Mélenchon is a populist who distrusts the EU and says that, if elected, he would hold a referendum on leaving the bloc unless it agreed to sweeping reforms.

At the Café du Nord, a hunters’ haunt in the northern village of Condé-folie, a signed photograph of Ms Le Pen, 49, hangs behind the bar.

But regulars said they were disappointed with the party leader’s campaign and her relatively low profile since the election.

The owner’s son, Jeannou, still backs Ms Le Pen, but sees her 27-year-old niece, Marion Maréchal-le Pen, a former MP who has quit politics, as a future party leader.

“The future belongs to the youth, and the one young people like today is Marion Maréchal-le Pen.”