Marine Le Pen

The French far-right leader’s political future is hanging on a court ruling, writes Isabel Coles

- Isabel Coles

The doyenne of the French far right came out swinging against her centrist rival in the 2017 presidential election debate. Marine Le Pen lambasted Emmanuel Macron as the candidate of “wild globalisation”, a “smirking banker” and a “darling of the system”. It took seconds for Macron to seize the advantage: “You are the true heiress,” he responded coolly. “Not only of a name, but of the political party of the French far right — of a whole system that has prospered on the anger of the French.”

Sixteen million viewers watched as Le Pen struggled to explain how leaving the euro would work in practice. She appeared to muddle aspects of her own policies during the two-and-a-half-hour slanging match. Polls showed her shedding votes at a rate of 30,000 a minute.

The disastrous performance was a low point for the leader of one of western Europe’s oldest and most electorally successful far-right and populist traditions. “She just came across as somebody who didn’t know what they were talking about,” said Victor Mallet, author of Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe. “Everybody said: ‘She’s finished.’”

But it was not over for Le Pen. Next time round, she held her own in the debate against Macron, leading the National Rally (Rassemblement National, or RN) to its best result ever in the 2022 election. The party has only grown in popularity since, and an election next year could be Le Pen’s best shot yet at becoming president — if she can overcome the latest stumbling block in her way. “She’s always faced sort of apparently insurmountable challenges and has always managed to come back from them,” Mallet said.