The far-right bogeyman of French politics laid the foundation for today’s polarising rhetoric across Europe

The first time Jean-Marie Le Pen stood in a French presidential election, in 1974, he won 0.75% of the vote. Half a century later, his daughter Marine leads the largest party in France’s parliament and could well become its next head of state.

Le Pen senior, who died on Tuesday aged 96, was for decades the far-right bogeyman of French politics, an eternal provocateur whose unabashed racism and antisemitism suggested he was much more interested in stoking outrage than in wielding power.