Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front party, was expelled on August 20, 2015, following backlash over comments he made downplaying the Holocaust’s significance. This marked a dramatic end to his nearly 40-year leadership of the party.
National Front removes its 87-year-old founder after 39 years of leadership following comments downplaying the significance of the Holocaust.
Le Pen had long clashed with his daughter Marine Le Pen, who assumed leadership of the National Front in 2011. She sought to distance the party from its history of overtly racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric in a bid to reposition it within French mainstream politics.
The party’s executive committee convened in Nanterre, France, for three hours to question the 87-year-old Le Pen before voting to remove him from the organization. In response, Le Pen announced his intention to appeal the decision in court, expressing indignation and insisting he had merely expressed his political views.
Earlier in April, Le Pen had reignited controversy by repeating his infamous claim that gas chambers were a “detail” of history. He also suggested France should strengthen ties with Russia to preserve the “white world.” These comments were widely condemned, with Marine calling them “political suicide.” She subsequently suspended him from the party, a decision he successfully challenged in court.
Despite his reinstatement, tensions escalated. In May, Jean-Marie Le Pen disrupted a major party rally by taking the stage uninvited. By August, the rift became irreparable, and the party voted to expel him. The elder Le Pen further deepened the divide by publicly declaring he would not support Marine’s presidential campaign in 2017.
Marine Le Pen and her deputy, Florian Philippot, refrained from attending the expulsion meeting to maintain neutrality. Following the decision, Marine stated that her father’s repeated missteps had made his removal inevitable. She emphasized that distancing the party from its founder was essential to her efforts to broaden its appeal and increase its credibility ahead of the presidential elections.
This pivotal moment highlighted the ideological and generational shifts within the National Front as it sought to shed its past and establish itself as a viable political force in modern France.
