National Front serves up couscous scandal

Some inside the National Front accuse Florian Philippot (left) of trying to oust party leader Marine Le Pen. Photo / AP

A photograph of Marine Le Pen's deputy dining at a North African restaurant with other National Front officials has horrified supporters, who found their "unpatriotic" culinary choice hard to swallow.

The row, dubbed #CouscousGate on social networks, highlights a growing rift within the far-right anti-immigration party, which could further undermine Le Pen's leadership four months after her defeat in the presidential election.

The picture of Florian Philippot, the party's vice-president and MEP, with National Front colleagues at a restaurant in Strasbourg was posted on Twitter by Kelly Betesh, a party activist.

It infuriated many party loyalists, especially those who oppose efforts by Philippot, who is openly gay, to reform the party and distance it from its anti-Semitic past. One tweet called for Philippot, 35, and his companions to be expelled.

"When you've been thrown out of the National Front, we'll eat a good choucroute [a French version of the German dish sauerkraut and a Strasbourg speciality] to celebrate, not a couscous."

Another joked: "I hope it was halal!" and a third said: "Officially they combat globalisation, standardisation etc and defend local regions! Huge joke!"

Philippot, often a target for the party's most extreme supporters, responded by condemning the criticism as "crassly stupid" and "poisonous" for the National Front .

Those loyal to Le Pen accuse his backers of trying to oust her as the party leader.

Formerly unchallenged and idolised by supporters, the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front founder, now faces increasing discontent in the ranks.

The upset has thrown the party into an unprecedented crisis.

"It's gone from adoration to loathing," said a disconcerted party official in Le Pen's parliamentary constituency in the Pas-de-Calais department.

Leading party figures have been arguing over policy, pushing supporters into the paths of other political parties.

National Front officials say the disputes are causing some supporters to transfer allegiance to the far-Left party of Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is emerging as the main leader of the opposition to Emmanuel Macron, the centrist president.

Like Le Pen, Melenchon is a populist who distrusts the EU and says that, if elected, he would hold a referendum on leaving the bloc unless it agreed to sweeping reforms.