French far-right leader Marine Le Pen praises Donald Trump for boosting her own election chances as BBC defends Remembrance Sunday interview
The presenter said it would not ‘honour the fallen to fail to report on the next big challenge to western security’
THE BBC has defended airing an interview with the French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Remembrance Sunday, saying “we are a news programme”.
Andrew Marr said on his show this morning it would not “honour the fallen” to fail to report on the woman who has a strong chance of becoming her country’s next President.
People on social media had called it “disgraceful” and a massive “error of judgement” to have on Ms Le Pen, the leader of the Front National - saying it was "normalising fascism".
Her party’s anti-immigration, anti-EU, anti-free trade and pro-Russia stance has seen her rocket up in the polls, and she is now expected to make it to the final two candidates in the French presidential elections next year.
She said Donald Trump's victory in the US has boosted her own chances, saying he had "made possible what had previously been presented as impossible".
But before the interview with the controversial politician aired, Mr Marr said: “Now I know this morning some people are offended and upset that I have been to interview Marine Le Pen and that we’re showing this interview on Remembrance Sunday.
“I understand but I will say this; Le Pen could, under some circumstances, become the next French president in the spring.
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“This week, in the immediate aftermath of the Trump victory, she’s declared that the whole world has changed and that her brand of politics is on the march.
“What does that mean? In the end, we are a news programme, and I don’t think the best way to honour the fallen is to fail to report on the next big challenge to western security.”
Ms Le Pen again praised Mr Trump, win over Hillary Clinton, calling it an ‘additional stone in building a new world order, destined to replace the old one”.
She also claimed her party was not racist, after Mr Marr had quoted her father, Front National founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, saying he had called the Holocaust "a detail of history".
Ms Le Pen said: "I don't think it's racist to say that we cannot take in all the poverty of the world, we cannot take care of hundreds of thousands of people arriving here because our first obligation is to protect the French people."
And she said there is not a "hair's breadth" between her party and Ukip, calling it "ridiculous" for Nigel Farage to pretend otherwise.
"Maybe Ukip is trying to counter the demonisation they are victim of by saying 'we are the good guys and the National Front are the bad guys', they can do so, but I don't feel obliged to follow this strategy, because, frankly, I feel it's a little bit ridiculous,” she said.
Ms Le Pen, who has led a number of polls ahead of next spring's French presidential election, denied that her party is racist, claiming that was a charge from the "elites".
And on the same programme Jeremy Corbyn agreed, accused Ukip of the same "nasty" brand of politics as France's far-right National Front.
The Labour leader said: "They both attempt the same shallow populist nasty appeal."
But Ukip hit back, and said in a statement it had made it clear for many years that it does not endorse Marine Le Pen nor her party's policies.
A spokesman said: “We believe that immigration is a boon to this country, but that it should be controlled, with no hint of favour for any group or ethnicity.”