LE PEN'S LAST FLING

In an exclusive interview, Jean-Marie Le Pen tells Simon Heffer and Henry Samuel about his plans for the forthcoming French election. [Front page tease]

St Cloud, France January 27, 2007 (Telegraph) - When French politics wants to show the world its cloven hoof, it shows Jean-Marie Le Pen. Now aged 78, the veteran leader of the Front National — a far-Right nationalist party no longer on the fringes of political life — is preparing to fight possibly his last presidential campaign.

He still has fewer than the 500 nominations needed from mayors to enter the lists: but having made it clear to the front-runner, Nicolas Sarkozy, that he will do everything to harm the Sarkozy campaign if he does not get nominated, help may soon be at hand. Mr Sarkozy probably will see to it that his party's own mayors get Mr Le Pen on to the ballot.

This by way of introduction to what the Telegraph bills as an exclusive interview with M. Le Pen. What is "exclusive" is hard to figure. This is your Le-Pen-by-the-numbers. The Telegraph is not made privy to any revelations, secrets, or spilt beans. And there is no exclusivity in the fact of the interview itself. M. Le Pen is no recluse and he is not shy about being questioned. It is just that for a national figure he is so infrequently sought out.

That said, there were a few choice quotes that caught our eye. On being branded a racist, M. Le Pen had this to say:

"Let me tell you that the definitions 'racist,' 'xenophobe' or 'anti-Semitic' are labels given by the Communist Party — it is they who define what is 'moral' or 'immoral' in France. I simply ask people to judge by the facts."

And there is some truth in the first claim. The French Left appears to have exclusive rights to the use of the term racist, which they employ liberally and freely to tar their opponents or most anyone they don't like. Yet the Left's cadres remain entirely white and political representation is minority-free. "Racist" is a ready-made political anathema that is easily pronounced and hard to shake -- and as often as not having nothing to do with race at all, but freighted with the full opprobrium of the notion. The French Left openly celebrates Che Guevara and Mumia Abu-Jamal, each a "racist" in his own right, with no opprobrious blowback.

On vanishing French sovereignty:

"Apart from me, the other contenders are not candidates for the presidency of the French republic but for governors of a province of the European Union. What possibilities do we have to rebuild our borders?"

On making it to the 2ème tour:

"There is a wave, perhaps still secret, of frustration of unhappiness, of disenchantment, of aspiration that can only crystallise on me. Why? Because, what is happening now, I predicted years, or even decades ago. The fact that Mr Sarkozy and Miss Royal in some areas speak like me makes the French people think: well, after all, Le Pen has already said that. He was right. ... Let me tell you that there will be big surprises in these elections, and one will be the vote of immigrants for Le Pen. I call on all those who are French — who feel French and want to be French, to come together to make our country great. I am not xenophobic, I'm a Francophile."

It is with this last claim that M. Le Pen pleads racism in its acceptable French form.

On Jack's improbable third-term run:

Gen de Gaulle in 1958 had three per cent. A few months later he was in power for 10 years.

PFFT (What is this?): Francophilia 5 | Rayonnement français 0

I really want Jean-Marie to win both in the first and second and become Le President.
Think of the fun.
The Left of Europe would have a collective heart attack. The US government would not know how to react.
The infighting in the French government would be bloody. Maybe, literally.