Despite his seemingly auspicious origins, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died this week aged 96, would become one of Europe’s most divisive politicians. He was raised on the picturesque but rugged Brittany coast and attended a Jesuit boarding school in north-western France. He served as a paratrooper for the French Foreign Legion and went on to study law.
Le Pen, the son of a sailor and a seamstress, was better known as a Holocaust denier who was convicted of assault and hate speech, who was once barred from political office, and who espoused xenophobia and anti-Semitism as the co-founder and leader of the far-right National Front party. It is no stretch to suggest Le Pen was the progenitor of the radical populism sweeping Europe.
Political rivals attacked me. I was kicked in the face and I lost my eye as a result
Le Pen was born in 1928 in La Trinite. He was dismissed from school for insubordination but managed to finish his education, though not without more misdemeanours. At university, where he sold a staunchly monarchist newspaper, he was connected to a group known for brawling with communists on campus in Toulouse. As a paratrooper he served in Algeria and fought in the Second Arab-Israeli War. “I fought alongside Israeli soldiers in 1956,” Le Pen said. “I was among the French paratroopers who parachuted into the Suez Canal.”
Speaking in 2022 of that experience, he said he sympathised with Israel, “the small nation that fought for its survival and existence, and managed to seize its ancestral land. I have always been friendly towards it, than adversarial.” However, as Prof Cecile Alduy, an expert on the National Front party, notes: “Jean-Marie Le Pen also expressed sympathy for the Palestinian people in the '90s, and was against any alignment on the US’s politics in the Middle East.”
Elsewhere in the region, Le Pen backed Bashar Al Assad’s forceful response to the uprising in Syria, claiming it was normal for a state to defend itself. Well in excess of half a million people are known to have been killed in the Assad regime’s struggle for survival, which ended with the former president's flight from the country to exile in December.
With military service under his belt, Le Pen entered the sphere of politics where he would spend more than six decades, having first been elected to parliament in 1956. In the 1960s he set up a publishing group that edited and sold recordings of Nazi speeches and military songs alongside Leon Gaultier, a Frenchman who had fought for the Waffen SS during the Second World War. The pair were among the motley crew who formed the National Front in 1972 to challenge mainstream conservatism, chiefly by asserting a threat represented by immigration to France, from North Africa in particular. Le Pen, who soon took control of the party, essentially wanted his version of French society to be shielded from any influence of non-white, non-Christian cultures.
The banning of building more mosques in France became policy and European integration was opposed. As Jean-Yves Camus, an observer of radical politics, puts it, under Le Pen the National Front was “an extreme-right party which had in its ranks people who were neo-fascists, neo-Nazis, negationists and anti-Semites”. Le Pen’s first conviction as a politician (he had previous for assault and battery) came in the 1960s, a hefty fine and suspended jail term for an "apology of war crimes"; such behaviour, with similar consequences, would become habitual. He was a classic racist, one who frequently made indubitably racist remarks only to deny that they were – “we do not hate the Turks, we love them, but in their country” – and was adept at playing down precisely the brand of anti-Semitism his party championed: “Before the intifada, there were three or four incidents of anti-Semitism a year, and that’s out of 18 million crimes and violations of the law.”
I'm not saying that the gas chambers didn't exist. I couldn't see them myself
Still, his political views were garnering rising support. Le Pen earned one per cent of the vote in his first foray into France’s presidential elections in 1974; by the mid 1980s and into the 1990s, this was up to 15 per cent. Then, in 2002, he sauntered through the first round of voting, with an 18 per cent proportion, qualifying for a run-off with Jacques Chirac. Such a far-right rise to prominence served as a wake-up call to France. With mass public protests and most political figures rushing to endorse Chirac, Le Pen lost out to his rival, though not without his extreme populism making its mark. Even in 2007’s presidential elections, he landed 10 per cent of the vote.
From 1984, Le Pen was an elected member of the European Parliament, where he vehemently rejected the proposed EU constitution. He wasn’t the most popular MEP in the chamber and was barred from presiding over its opening session in 2009. Perhaps his most abhorrent public comment came in 1987, when he dismissed the Holocaust as a mere “detail of history”. Rather than repent, he reaffirmed this view in any number of ways thereafter, for example: “I'm not saying that the gas chambers didn't exist. I couldn't see them myself.” In 1998, he was barred from political office for two years for assaulting a political rival during an election campaign. A decade on, he told Le Monde newspaper that “you can’t dispute the inequality of races”.
His daughter Marine Le Pen supplanted him as National Front president – she was to rename it National Rally – in 2011, with her father becoming honorary president. In 2015, after reiterating his diluted version of the persecution of Jews in the Second World War, his daughter suspended him from the party. A brouhaha followed, culminating in his expulsion. His public popularity also faded, with contentions such as the need for a French-Russian alliance to save “the world of the whites” increasing the criticism against him. In 2021, aged 93, he was again in court charged with inciting anti-Semitic hatred. Le Pen even publicly supported far-right winger Eric Zemmour over his daughter in the 2022 electoral process.
Le Pen was orphaned in 1942 when his father’s boat was blown up by a mine. The veteran politician claimed he lost his left eye due to a savage beating – “political rivals attacked me. I was kicked in the face and I lost my eye as a result” – but this account is disputed, with an alternative version that the injury happened while setting up a tent at a campaign event widely believed. For years, an eye patch formed part of his look. He was married to Pierrette Lalanne for 27 years and in addition to Marine, they had two other daughters, Marie-Caroline and Yann. Le Pen married Jeanne-Marie Paschos in 1991. All survive him.
The world may be quieter without Le Pen’s firebrand rhetoric, yet in 2024 the party he once led won, with allies, 142 of the 577 seats in the French national assembly. The spread of right-wing radicalism in Europe indicates an enduring influence. As columnist Colin Randall previously noted for The National, Le Pen would regard this “continent-wide far-right advance as a part of a more meaningful legacy”, above all else.
MATCH INFO
BRIGHTON 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 3
McTominay 44'
Mata 73'
Pogba 80'
What's in the deal?
Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
India will slash levies on medical devices, machinery, cosmetics, soft drinks and lamb.
India will also cut automotive tariffs to 10% under a quota from over 100% currently.
Indian employees in the UK will receive three years exemption from social security payments
India expects 99% of exports to benefit from zero duty, raising opportunities for textiles, marine products, footwear and jewellery
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The years Ramadan fell in May
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGrowdash%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJuly%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESean%20Trevaskis%20and%20Enver%20Sorkun%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERestaurant%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24750%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Plus%20VC%2C%20Judah%20VC%2C%20TPN%20Investments%20and%20angel%20investors%2C%20including%20former%20Talabat%20chief%20executive%20Abdulhamid%20Alomar%2C%20and%20entrepreneur%20Zeid%20Husban%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 1 (Cantwell 75') Manchester United 2 (Aghalo 51' 118') After extra time.
Man of the match Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Defending champions
World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
Gulf Under 19 Girls: Dubai Exiles
UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
International Invitational: Speranza 22
International Vets: Joining Jack
Chelsea 2 Burnley 3
Chelsea Morata (69'), Luiz (88')
Burnley Vokes (24', 43'), Ward (39')
Red cards Cahill, Fabregas (Chelsea)
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Background: Chemical Weapons
T20 World Cup Qualifier, Muscat
UAE FIXTURES
Friday February 18: v Ireland
Saturday February 19: v Germany
Monday February 21: v Philippines
Tuesday February 22: semi-finals
Thursday February 24: final
The five pillars of Islam
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
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PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Roger Federer's record at Wimbledon
Roger Federer's record at Wimbledon
1999 - 1st round
2000 - 1st round
2001 - Quarter-finalist
2002 - 1st round
2003 - Winner
2004 - Winner
2005 - Winner
2006 - Winner
2007 - Winner
2008 - Finalist
2009 - Winner
2010 - Quarter-finalist
2011 - Quarter-finalist
2012 - Winner
2013 - 2nd round
2014 - Finalist
2015 - Finalist
2016 - Semi-finalist
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
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HEY%20MERCEDES%2C%20WHAT%20CAN%20YOU%20DO%20FOR%20ME%3F
%3Cp%3EMercedes-Benz's%20MBUX%20digital%20voice%20assistant%2C%20Hey%20Mercedes%2C%20allows%20users%20to%20set%20up%20commands%20for%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Navigation%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Calls%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20In-car%20climate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Ambient%20lighting%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Media%20controls%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Driver%20assistance%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20General%20inquiries%20such%20as%20motor%20data%2C%20fuel%20consumption%20and%20next%20service%20schedule%2C%20and%20even%20funny%20questions%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EThere's%20also%20a%20hidden%20feature%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20pressing%20and%20holding%20the%20voice%20command%20button%20on%20the%20steering%20wheel%20activates%20the%20voice%20assistant%20on%20a%20connected%20smartphone%20%E2%80%93%20Siri%20on%20Apple's%20iOS%20or%20Google%20Assistant%20on%20Android%20%E2%80%93%20enabling%20a%20user%20to%20command%20the%20car%20even%20without%20Apple%20CarPlay%20or%20Android%20Auto%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The five pillars of Islam
The%20Super%20Mario%20Bros%20Movie
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If you go
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Greenwood 77')
Everton 1 (Lindelof 36' og)
India squads
Test squad against Afghanistan: Rahane (c), Dhawan, Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Karun, Saha, Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Umesh, Shami, Pandya, Ishant, Thakur.
T20 squad against Ireland and England: Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Raina, Pandey, Dhoni, Karthik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Sundar, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Pandya, Kaul, Umesh.
ODI squad against England: Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rohit, Rahul, Shreyas, Rayudu, Dhoni, Karthik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Sundar, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Pandya, Kaul, Umesh
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RACE RESULTS
1. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) 1hr 21min 48.527sec
2. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) at 0.658sec
3. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull) 6.012
4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 7.430
5. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN/Ferrari) 20.370
6. Romain Grosjean (FRA/Haas) 1:13.160
7. Sergio Pérez (MEX/Force India) 1 lap
8. Esteban Ocon (FRA/Force India) 1 lap
9. Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams) 1 lap
10. Lance Stroll (CAN/Williams) 1 lap
11. Jolyon Palmer (GBR/Renault) 1 lap
12. Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL/McLaren) 1 lap
13. Nico Hülkenberg (GER/Renault) 1 lap
14. Pascal Wehrlein (GER/Sauber) 1 lap
15. Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber) 2 laps
16. Daniil Kvyat (RUS/Toro Rosso) 3 laps
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
