Jean-Marie Le Pen was variously loved and loathed – but he changed the shape of modern French politics.
His youth was shaped by war and he then lived a life of constant battles.
Le Pen’s political career, which was a very long one, was all about belligerence, anger, regret and scapegoats. In his world, everything that had gone wrong could be blamed on someone else.
French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died
Mostly, his targets were either migrants or Muslims, or ideally migrants who were also Muslims. But he also berated bureaucrats, gay people and the Arab world in general.
He was convicted of inciting discrimination, downplayed the Holocaust as merely “a detail”, assaulted a fellow MP in the European Parliament and was eventually expelled from his own party – then led by his own daughter – for being an unapologetic extremist.
And yet it would be wrong to write Le Pen off as merely an agitator.
He was, instead, a catalyst within French politics – a lightning rod who edged far-right opinions back towards the mainstream. He maintained that France was for the French, a nationalist sentiment that resonates across so many countries to this day.
Le Pen was born in Brittany in 1928, the son of a fisherman and a seamstress. His father, Jean, was killed when his boat was blown up by a German mine during the Second World War but Le Pen went on to enjoy military life and served in Vietnam and Algeria. He bemoaned France’s withdrawal from its colonies and, as he saw it, the consequent loss of power and prestige.
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France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen dies
On his return to France, Le Pen moved into right-wing politics. He helped to form the National Front in 1972, uniting a disparate group of supporters. Emboldened, Le Pen ran for president in 1974, but ended up with less than 1% of the vote.
He had, however, started the process of establishing himself as a profoundly divisive figure.
In 1976, his apartment was bombed, blowing out a side of the building. Nobody was killed and the perpetrators were never caught.
But the violence of the attack against him seemed to energise Le Pen. And the following year, a wealthy supporter left him a new home – a mansion to the west of Paris built on the orders of Napoleon III. Le Pen, along with his three daughters – Marie-Caroline, Yann and Marine – all lived there.
Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen in 2012. Pic: Reuters
Their mother, Pierrette, separated from Le Pen because of his extreme views. He refused to pay alimony saying that “if she wants money, she can clean”. Instead, she accepted the offer to pose for semi-naked photos in Playboy magazine, wearing a maid’s outfit and pretending to clean. The magazine sold around 250,000 more copies than normal.
That crushing electoral defeat did not dissuade Le Pen. Instead, it was to be merely the first of five attempts to win the presidency. None would be successful but on one extraordinary occasion, in 2002, he came second in the first round of popular voting, with the backing of 4.8m voters.
It was a result that pushed Le Pen into a run-off against the sitting president, Jacques Chirac. Fearful of Le Pen’s extremism, Mr Chirac won backing from across the political spectrum and emerged with the biggest landslide in France’s modern history – 82% for him, 18% for Le Pen. Mr Chirac’s vote rose by nearly 20m votes from the first round – Le Pen’s tally went up by just 700,000.
Jean-Marie Le Pen. Pic: Reuters
The outcome said much about Le Pen. He had enthused many in the far-right with a rhetoric that seemed, at times, anti-establishment, racist, antisemitic, xenophobic and radical, but which also promised to do anything to protect France and the French.
Clearly, there were millions who would support it but, just as clearly, there were many more who would do anything to stop Le Pen, even if that might mean voting for the widely disliked Mr Chirac. “Rather a crook than a racist” was a familiar statement at the time.
The election marked the high-water mark for Le Pen’s career. In the coming years, his support fell. In 2011, he stood down as leader and was succeeded by his daughter Marine Le Pen.
Jean-Marie Le Pen with his daughter Marine. Pic: AP
Le Pen continued as an MEP, but his uncompromising views became ever more at odds with Ms Le Pen’s more emollient approach.
When Le Pen refused to apologise for yet another antisemitic comment, he was suspended, and then expelled, from the party he had founded. A little later, Ms Le Pen was to rename the party the Rassemblement National – the National Rally – to further distance herself from her father’s shadow.
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He started a new far-right party and continued campaigning, but by now he was a spent force. There was only space for one Le Pen, and Ms Le Pen had usurped him.
But her father’s influence lingered on. “His impact is still very great today,” said Dr Benjamin Biard, a political analyst specialising in the far right.
“It’s not just Jean-Marie Le Pen. There is the impact of Marine Le Pen who also changed the party, mainly in its structure, its symbols and the way it communicates. For everything else, it has remained generally faithful to the ideals of the National Front as Jean-Marie Le Pen designed it when the party was first founded.
“His ability, playing in his charisma and his way of communicating, has been very inspirational for other political organisations in other countries, particularly in Europe.”
Le Pen brought raw, unapologetic opinions that were, for many, unpalatable, offensive, divisive and sometimes even illegal, but which also helped to remould French politics.
He enjoyed the spotlight, spoke with passion, and enjoyed smiling, performing and shaking hands while the storm swirled around him. Le Pen was divisive and difficult, but he was also impossible to ignore.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Ukraine’s partners to make sure Russia doesn’t “deceive” them over a ceasefire.
After breakthrough talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Saudi Arabia, Kyiv said it was ready to accept a proposed 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
But his nightly address on Wednesday evening, a day after the Jeddah summit, President Zelenskyy said, “we must move toward peace” – but issued a warning to allies.
“The key factor is our partners’ ability to ensure Russia’s readiness not to deceive but to genuinely end the war,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Because right now, Russian strikes have not stopped.”
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The focus has now switched to Vladimir Putin’s response to the proposed ceasefire. President Trump said the US had received “some positive messages” adding: “We have people going to Russia right now”.
However, he warned Moscow: “In a financial sense, yeah we could do things very bad for Russia, would be devastating for Russia.”
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Will Russia go for ceasefire deal?
European defence ministers, meeting in Paris, said now was the time for Moscow to show it was serious about ending the war.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey was among those attending, and had a direct message for Russia’s president: “I say to president Putin, over to you, you want to talk, prove it.”
Mr Healey called on Russia to accept the ceasefire and end the war, adding, “the pressure is now on Putin”.
For his part, President Putin has been playing to his domestic audience with a visit to Kursk, where Russian troops finally seem to be gaining the upper hand against Ukrainian forces who seized territory in the Russian region last year.
The Russian line is approaching Sumy from Kursk Oblast
Dressed in camouflage, the Russian president called for his forces to defeat the enemy and completely liberate Kursk, in remarks reported by the Interfax news agency.
He also said enemy troops captured in the region will be treated as terrorists, as Russia’s chief of the general staff told Mr Putin that Ukrainian forces in the region are surrounded.
World
Pakistan: Hostages killed after separatist militants hijack train carrying hundreds of passengers
Hostages have been killed after separatist militants hijacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Pakistan, authorities have said.
The Pakistan military (ISPR) said 21 hostages were killed, as well as four security force soldiers, on the train that was carrying more than 400 people.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had killed 50 people.
A Pakistani government spokesman described the attack as “an act of terrorism,” and passengers who had been freed described how gunfire was “coming from everywhere”.
ISPR director general Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry added in a statement: “Today we freed a large number of people, including women and children. The final operation was carried out with great care.”
A soldier stands guard next to a rescue train after the hijack by separatist militants. Pic: Reuters
The train was hijacked on Tuesday as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, a district in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
The Jaffar Express was packed with 440 people, including women and children, Mr Chaudhry told local broadcaster Dunya TV.
He added that “militants were in touch with their handlers and masterminds in Afghanistan via satellite phones” during the incident.
Passengers rescued by security forces from the hijacked train. Pic: AP
The train was on a 1,000-mile journey from Quetta to the city of Peshawar.
Militants blew up the railway tracks before firing at the train, killing the driver and trapping it inside a tunnel at Mashkaf.
Security forces exchanged gunfire with the militants who were wearing vests loaded with explosives.
The train was hijacked as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, Pakistan
‘God saved us’
Noor Muhammad, who was travelling with his wife, said: “First, they hit the engine with an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).
“After that, gunfire started and explosions were heard, RPGs were used. God saved us.
“They made us get off (the train) and told us to get down or they would shoot. We got down and then they said ‘leave’.”
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Officials said a large number of the hostages had been rescued. Pic: AP
Bashir Yousaf, who was with his family, said: “Everyone was crying and passengers were shouting, everyone was lying on the floor trying to save their lives.
“The sound of gunfire was coming from everywhere, then they (insurgents) told us to get down.
“After getting off we were told not to look back. I just kept walking without looking back to save my family’s lives.”
A soldier keeps watch near to the scene of the hijacked train. Pic: AP
Mr Chaudhry added to Dunya TV that security forces “first took out some of the militants and then began clearing compartment by compartment killing the militants”.
He said the total number of militants was 33, and added that no passenger was hurt or killed during rescue operations.
However, he added that before “the final clearance,” 21 people were killed by the militants. Four Frontier Corps soldiers were also killed.
“Perpetrators will be hunted down and will be brought to justice,” he said. “This incident of the Jaffar Express changes the rules of the game.”
Soldiers and police have been deployed at sites close to the hijacking. Pic AP
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and said security officials were “repelling” the militants, while interior minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attackers “enemies” of the country.
The BLA – designated a terrorist organisation by the UK – had demanded the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons within 48 hours.
It had threatened to start executing the hostages if the government did not fulfil its demands.
The group often targets infrastructure and security forces in Balochistan but has also struck in other areas, including the southern port city Karachi and the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.
World
Pakistan: Hostages killed after separatist militants hijack train carrying hundreds of passengers
Hostages have been killed after separatist militants hijacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Pakistan, authorities have said.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had killed 50 people on the train that was carrying more than 400.
Government officials have not confirmed how many hostages have been killed. Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan province, said “we people have also been martyred, but we will share details later”.
More than 50 militants have been killed and the insurgent attack has now ended after a day-long stand-off, according to officials.
A soldier stands guard next to a rescue train after the hijack by separatist militants. Pic: Reuters
Security officials told the Associated Press news agency that more than 300 hostages had been rescued.
Pakistan’s junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said 70 to 80 attackers had hijacked the train.
A Pakistani government spokesman described the attack as “an act of terrorism”.
Passengers who have been freed described how gunfire was “coming from everywhere”.
Passengers rescued by security forces from the hijacked train. Pic: AP
The train was hijacked on Tuesday as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, a district in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
The Jaffar Express was packed with 425 people, including women and children.
The train was on a 1,000-mile journey from Quetta to the city of Peshawar.
Militants blew up the railway tracks before firing at the train, killing the driver and trapping it inside a tunnel at Mashkaf.
Security forces exchanged gunfire with the militants who were wearing vests loaded with explosives.
The train was hijacked as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, Pakistan
Officials said a large number of the hostages had been rescued. Pic: AP
Noor Muhammad, who was travelling with his wife, said: “First, they hit the engine with an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).
“After that, gunfire started and explosions were heard, RPGs were used. God saved us. They made us get off (the train) and told us to get down or they would shoot. We got down and then they said ‘leave’.”
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Arrested captain of crashed ship is Russian national
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Bashir Yousaf, who was with his family, said: “Everyone was crying and passengers were shouting, everyone was lying on the floor trying to save their lives.
“The sound of gunfire was coming from everywhere, then they (insurgents) told us to get down.
“After getting off we were told not to look back. I just kept walking without looking back to save my family’s lives.”
A soldier keeps watch near to the scene of the hijacked train. Pic: AP
Soldiers and police have been deployed at sites close to the hijacking. Pic AP
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and said security officials were “repelling” the militants, while interior minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attackers “enemies” of Pakistan.
The BLA had demanded the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons within 48 hours.
It had threatened to start executing the hostages if the government did not fulfil its demands.
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