Moroccan-born Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri said the comment sounded as if it had come from a spokesman for far-right leader Marine Le Pen. It was a line straight out of the nationalist playbook of Le Pen, 48, whose National Front (FN) has co opted French folk heroine Joan of Arc as a far-right icon. Le Pen, boosted by anti-immigrant sentiment following the jihadist attacks and the Europe-wide migrant crisis, styles herself as the "people's candidate". Her father Jean-Marie Le Pen achieved the feat in 2002, going on to lose to the conservative Jacques Chirac. Hollande's torment is palpable in the book, titled "Un president ne devrait pas dire ca..." ("A president shouldn't say that...").

Source: The Local October 20, 2016 04:07 UTC