Marine: Jean-Marie must quit politics

MARINE Le Pen has told her father that he should quit politics - and has begun party disciplinary action against him over recent comments that she believes is harming the Front National's attempt to improve its reputation.

Appearing on TF1's evening news, the Front National president said her father, the far-right party's founder, would be called to a disciplinary hearing. The 86-year-old last week defended a past comment that Nazi gas chambers were a "detail of history". He also recently called prime minister Manuel Valls, who was born in Spain, "the immigrant".

Marine Le Pen said: "Jean-Marie needs to show some wisdom and withdraw from political and public life. I have deep and long-lasting disagreements with Jean-Marie. He no longer represents this movement. No one in the FN is pleased with what's currently happening."

A Harris Interactive poll for the newspaper 20 Minutes found 70% of Front National supporters believed that Jean-Marie Le Pen was no longer a suitable representative of the party. A similar percentage said the party needed to take action against him.