Marine Le Pen’s relaunch falls flat

It wasn’t the weekend that Marine Le Pen envisaged. When last Saturday dawned in the northern French city of Lille, the leader of the National Front probably rose from her bed with a spring in her step. Ten months on from her disastrous performance in the second round of the French presidential election here was Le Pen’s chance to get her political career back on track. Furthermore, she had a little surprise in store for the party faithful, an illustrious guest who would enhance her own international credentials.

Sure enough, Steve Bannon elicited a hearty roar from the audience when he strode onto the stage: “Let them call you racist, let them call you xenophobes, let them call you nativists,” thundered Donald Trump’s former Chief Strategist. “Wear it as a badge of honour, because every day we get stronger and they get weaker.”

Was this really what Le Pen wanted to hear? She’s spent the last seven years trying