Jean-Marie Le Pen claimed that his daughter Marine was unfit to run France , saying the Front National leader lacked the “moral principles” to be French president a day after his suspension from the party.
The 86-year old Front National (FN) founder said on Tuesday he would not, as things stand, back his daughter’s bid for the French presidency in 2017, saying his suspension suggested she did not have the moral fibre for the job.
“If such moral principles should preside over France, it would be scandalous given my betrayal,” he said.
On Monday night, the FN’s executive board suspended Mr Le Pen from the party he founded over his recent inflammatory remarks, which included reiterating his claim that the Nazi gas chambers were a “detail” of history.
It may strip him of his title of honorary party president at an extraordinary general assembly to be held within the next three months.
Mr Le Pen reacted furiously by disowning his daughter.
France's far-Right political party Front National (FN) founder and honorary president, Jean-Marie Le Pen gestures on stage as FN's president Marine Le Pen looks on (AFP/Getty Images)
“I am ashamed that the president of the Front National has my name and I hope she loses it as soon as possible,” he said on Monday night. “I’d rather the president of the FN was no longer called Le Pen.”
His latest outburst on Tuesday came as the family feud at the heart of the French far-Right widened to his granddaughter, who announced that she was suspending her bid to run in forthcoming regional elections.
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, 25, an MP and rising star of the French far-Right , said she had decided for now not to run for president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region in December due to her “shock” at her grandfather’s attacks on Marine Le Pen, her aunt and FN leader.
Mr Le Pen had vowed to run himself for the PACA presidency, but he agreed not to last month when the feud with his daughter Marine erupted, instead throwing his weight behind his granddaughter, Marion.
However, on Tuesday, Ms Maréchal-Le Pen said she was putting her bid on hold. “My choice is in no way out of support for (Jean-Marie Le Pen) as I was deeply shocked in particular by his comments on Monday,” she told Le Figaro.
She added that did not wish to be “hostage” to her grandfather given the turn of events.
“I simply want the best for this region and I don’t want to be held hostage by Jean-Marie Le Pen in particular,” she said.
A local FN official told RTL radio: “We are doing our utmost to make her change her mind. She finds herself in an unmanageable situation due to the idiocies of Jean-Marie Le Pen. He’s a nuclear bomb that can explode in your hands at any moment.”
Seen as close to her grandfather and more socially conservative than her aunt, Ms Maréchal-Le Pen last month nevertheless insisted she was not his “puppet”, and that she would not be a “candidate under tutelage”.
She also distanced herself from his comments, saying: “Totalitarianism and racism are not me.” Party officials on Monday expressed their “total confidence” in Marine Le Pen, backing her ostensibly more moderate line.
She has called for on her father to retire from political life, and insists he no longer speaks “in the name of the party ”.
Mr Le Pen later on Tuesday warned: "Rather than retirement, I'm thinking of attacking. I will fight by all means to re-establish justice. I don't threaten, I strike."
Ms Le Pen, however, maintained a stony silence, allowing her vice president, Florian Philippot, to do the talking. He said that FN party members were "weary of (Mr Le Pen's) permanent provocations" that were "far removed from the FN line, which has been validated by members", and whose numbers had doubled since Ms Le Pen took over the party.
Ms Le Pen's move to oust her father appears to be paying off in the polls. On Tuesday, one by Odoxa suggested she would reach the second round of presidential elections if they took place today, and that she would go on to be elected president if her second round opponent was François Hollande , taking 52 per cent of the vote to his 48 per cent.