The mayor Roland Franchet 65 a retired farmer pointed out that Mr Le Pen scored

The mayor, Roland Franchet, 65, a retired farmer, pointed out that Mr Le Pen scored only 14.5 per cent of the vote in the village – 109 votes, compared to 106 for the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, and 102 for President Jacques Chirac.This meant, he said, that the overwhelming majority of the village – 86 per cent – did not vote for Mr Le Pen. Equally, he pointed out, 80 per cent of the French people had not voted for the far right last Sunday and would probably vote for President Chirac next Sunday.”It is fine gesture on their part but a little cavalier,” said Mr Franchet, who is politically non-aligned. “The people here don’t appreciate being lumped all together as fascists. Especially, by a group of young people who don’t come from here, or in many cases did not bother to vote on Sunday and now regret it.”He has a point.

The spirit of ‘98 was perhaps exaggerated but so too, perhaps, has been the 17 per cent vote for Mr Le Pen on “Black Sunday” last week. If Mr Le Pen is comprehensively rejected in next Sunday’s vote and the united nations of Les Bleus win the World Cup again in June, the level of support for the xenophobic far right in France may be seen in its true context.. The French far right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, said yesterday that he would send all the 1,400 people in the Sangatte refugee camp “to Tony Blair by special train” if he was elected President next week. He said: “The problem of asylum-seekers is a serious problem. Politicians have to decide whether to try to deal with it, or whether to exoloit it We’re dealing with it.

Le Pen is exploiting it.”The Sangatte refugee camp, run by the Red Cross, was opened three years ago near the mouth of the Channel Tunnel to house refugees attempting to reach Britain and refusing to register for asylum in France.Mr Le Pen’s press conference yesterday at the headquarters of his National Front party , was also interrupted by scuffling as his security officials tried to exclude a television crew from a French channel that the far-right leader dislikes.Mr Le Pen, as usual, peppered his remarks with references to the 1930s and 1940s, including a description of the gathering alliance of almost all French political, social and church groups against him as the “popular front”. This is a reference to the left-wing coalition government of the 1930’s, blamed in far-right, Vichyist demonology for the defeat of France in 1940.In this context, Mr Le Pen’s use of the phrase “special train” will inevitably conjure up memories of the trains chartered by the Vichy government and the Nazis to deport French Jews to concentration camps during the Second World war. Whether that was a gaffe by Mr Le Pen or another provocation was unclear.Mr Le Pen attempted to soften his previous announcement that he would pull France out of the European Union if he is elected President in the second round of the presidential election next week. (All the indications are that he will be comprehensively defeated).Mr Le Pen, 73, said that, if he became President, he would restore the franc but allow the euro to continue to circulate inside France as a parallel currency. Although he continued to say he would organise a referendum on pulling France out of the European Union, he also spoke yesterday of “renegotiating” the EU farming policy to make it more attractive to French farmers.He is fighting his second round campaign making direct attacks on President Chirac’s record of alleged financial wrongdoing as mayor of Paris.Mr Le Pen called yesterday on the French people to rise up in a “true gathering of the nation, against the popular front that Chirac is trying to put in place to save himself and escape from the judges”.* Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who was defeated in the first round of the election by Mr Le Pen, has called on his supporters for the first time to reject the extreme right in next week’s run-off.. Twelve British plane-spotters are expected to fly home today pending an appeal against a Greek conviction for obtaining national secrets. The others received one-year suspended sentences for aiding and abetting.The group, who insist they were innocently enjoying a hobby, was arrested in Kalamata in November and accused of espionage.