BBC HIT BY LE PEN STORM
French far-right leader given Remembrance Sunday platform to claim she’ll be the next Trump
BBC presenter Andrew Marr was yesterday forced to defend the broadcaster’s decision to show an interview with French far right leader Marine Le Pen on Remembrance Sunday.
Critics accused the BBC of insulting the memory of Britons who lost their lives fighting fascism.
Marr conceded his interview with Miss Le Pen for his BBC1 political show was controversial, but said it would not honour the fallen to censor someone who could become ‘the next big challenge to Western security’.
Before the pre-recorded interview was screened Marr told viewers: ‘Now I know this morning some people are offended and upset that I have been to interview Marine Le Pen, and that we are showing this interview on Remembrance Sunday. I understand that but I would say this – Le Pen could, under some circumstances, become the next French president in the spring. This week, in the immediate aftermath of the Trump victory, she has declared that the whole world has changed and that her brand of politics is on the march. What does that mean?
‘In the end we are a news programme and I don’t think the best way to honour the fallen is to fail to report on the next big challenge to Western security.’
Dozens of protesters from Unite Against Fascism gathered outside the BBC’s studios in
‘Neither the time nor the place’
central London. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke briefly to them before going on the programme. He said many were angry because of the language used by Miss Le Pen about minorities in France.
Labour education spokesman Angela Rayner said on Twitter: ‘Marine Le Pen speaking on Marr Remembrance Sunday? Why not interview our veterans who fought fascists & lost so many comrades? So wrong BBC!’ Jamie Reed, a Labour backbencher, said: ‘The point isn’t airing Le Pen. The point is deliberately choosing to do so today. Sickening and deliberate.’
Tristram Hunt, a senior Labour MP and historian, said: ‘As we commemorate those who gave their lives fighting fascism, it is pretty grotesque to have Marine Le Pen on Marr on Remembrance Sunday. There is a time and a place. Remembrance Sunday is neither the time nor the place.’ He added: ‘The war vs the Kaiser was, in part, a war vs fascism. Le Pen signals a return to those dark impulses.’
Miss Le Pen predicted she would become president of France in the third part of a ‘global’ revolution after Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in the US. She also took a swipe at Ukip for attempting to distance itself from her National Front party, telling Marr there was not a ‘hair’s breadth’ between them on immigration and the European Union. Miss Le Pen also said that no more migrants would be welcome in France, as the country was ‘full up’.
Suzanne Evans, who is running to be Ukip leader, distanced her party from Miss Le Pen.
She told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: ‘I was appalled, she said France is full, we don’t want any more immigrants. That is so far away from Ukip policy. We want to welcome people who can contribute and we want to have a points-based system of immigration that is fair and treats all people equally. We are miles away from Le Pen.’