French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she will never forgive herself for expelling her father Jean-Marie Le Pen from the party he founded and she rebranded, after he died last week aged 96.
Jean-Marie Le Pen was convicted several times for his openly racist and anti-Semitic statements, and had boasted of torturing prisoners during the war against Algeria.
When, in 2011, Marine Le Pen took over as head of the National Front (FN) party he founded four decades earlier, she quickly took steps towards making it electable – rebranding it the National Rally (RN) and cleaning up its image in a policy known as "de-demonisation".
Her father threatened to derail the strategy, reiterating remarks – first made in 1987 – that the Nazi gas chambers were "a detail in the history of World War II". She threw him out the party in 2015.
"I will never forgive myself for this decision, because I know it caused him immense pain," she told the Journal du dimanche (JDD) newspaper in an interview published on its website Sunday.
"This decision was one of the most difficult of my life. And until the end of my life, I will always ask myself the question: 'could I have done this differently?'", she said.
Le Pen challenged the decision in the courts, but failed. The father-daughter relationship reportedly remained strained, though Marine Le Pen has been discreet over family affairs.
France's far right tries to move away from past anti-Semitism
Devil of the Republic
Jean-Marie Le Pen also said, in 2014, that Patrick Bruel – a Jewish singer who'd criticised him – would be part of "a batch we will get next time".
Addressing such remarks, Marine Le Pen said: "It's somewhat unfair to judge him solely on the basis of these controversies."
After his long political career, "it is inevitable to have subjects that arouse controversy," she argued, while saying it was "unfortunate" that Jean-Marie Le Pen "got bogged down in these provocations".
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last Tuesday, was buried on Saturday in a quiet family ceremony in his home region of Brittany in western France.
Gatherings in Paris and other cities to celebrate his death were denounced by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau as "deeply disgraceful".
The so-called "Devil of the Republic" ran for the French presidency five times, reaching the second round in 2002 before being trounced by his conservative rival Jacques Chirac after huge protests against the far right.
Marine Le Pen, who has stood for president three times, is likely preparing another run in 2027.
(with newswires)
