The perils of a Le Pen presidency

For over half a century the name Le Pen has sent a tremor through liberal France. Le Pen senior, Jean-Marie, prowled for decades around the political fringes, trading in xenophobic outrage and antisemitic provocation. He was as adept at stirring fear and offending the establishment as he was at securing convictions for incitement to racial hatred. Twice Mr Le Pen sat in parliament, and in 2002 he made it into the presidential run-off. Even then nobody took seriously the possibility that the blustering former paratrooper would win the highest office—or wish to.