Weeks after being expelled over his anti-Semitic remarks from the Front National (FN), Jean-Marie Le Pen has announced the creation of a rival ‘Blue-White-Red- movement.
87-year-old Le Pen yesterday announced his plan to form the new political movement at a meeting of supporters in a restaurant in Marseille, reports Deutsche Welle. The “Blue-White-Red” group is intended to unite supporters of the FN party founded by Le Pen but led by his daughter, Marine, since 2011.
“You will not be orphans,” Le Pen told his supporters, adding: “We can act in a similar way to the FN, even if we are not part of it.”
Le Pen described his expulsion from the FN as a “witch hunt” which he pledged to end. As Breitbart London previously reported he was in fact drummed out following a number of unpalatable comments he made earlier this year deemed “political suicide” by his daughter. He said he still believes Nazi gas chambers used to kill several million Jews, Roma, homosexuals, the disabled, and opposition intellectuals and clergy are but a “mere detail” of history.
Le Pen’s move was made at the same time as the FN held its annual meeting in Marseille, three months ahead of December’s regional elections. There had been speculation that he could turn up uninvited to the gathering, which would be particularly unwelcome at a time when his daughter is changing the party to make it more appealing to mainstream voters.
Marine Le Pen aims to modernise the anti-EU, anti-immigration party to give her the best chance of a presidential run in 2017. She believes the party should be defined by its opposition to the EU and defence of secularism, not by xenophobia. She played down the importance of her father’s latest move to reporters, saying:
“Everyone is free outside the National Front to create any group he wants. This poses no problem. He does what he wants, he is a free man.”
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