Far-right leader hails ‘victory in itself’ and vows to fight on after winning more than 40% of the vote
It was third time unlucky for Marine Le Pen, who failed to convince French voters to elect her president on Sunday.
She detoxified her far-right National Rally party and threw out the Holocaust denying, xenophobic thugs – including her own father – softened her image with stories of how much she adores her cats and appeared on television with reassuring smiles and a wardrobe of soothingly neutral coloured clothes.