It comes amid reported friction between Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally party.
Back in her political stronghold in northern France, Marine Le Pen is delivering her first major campaign speech this Sunday. The far-right candidate for 2027 will be in Hénin-Beaumont as part of her presidential election, after MPs from her party met in Le Touquet (Pas-de-Calais) on Saturday.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Le Pen is currently leading in the polls, with 34% of voters declaring they intend to vote for her in the first round — across different tested scenarios — according to a survey carried out on 8 and 9 September by OpinionWay for Les Échos.
Despite this, recent weeks have been marked by a series of mishaps, amid alleged tensions between Le Pen and the president of the National Rally (RN) party, Jordan Bardella, as well as controversial remarks over aid to Ukraine and the release of a video in which a police officer — and former volunteered of the RN’s security team — makes racist, sexist and conspiracy-theory-based remarks.
Meanwhile, Le Pen has still not reacted to the signing of an immigration pact between Bardella and Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK's hard-right, anti-immigration Reform UK party, which provides for migrants intercepted in British waters to be sent back to France — should the two parties be elected.
What role will Bardella play?
In recent weeks, rumours around alleged tensions between Le Pen and Bardella — who is vying to be France's next prime minister — have been swirling.
According to French newspaper Libération, the president of the National Rally is said to have declared "it’s her or me" on 31 August, after Le Pen reportedly announced she intended to give her niece — Marion Maréchal — a greater role in the campaign.
During the 2022 presidential campaign, Maréchal backed Éric Zemmour, the leader of the rival far-right party Reconquête over her aunt.
Bardella subsequently denied any tensions, telling the French broadcaster BFM-TV: "Everything is going very, very well, I assure you. I support her 2,000%." He added that he had an "unbreakable political and personal affinity" with Le Pen while also denying that he wanted to "impose" his line on the party.
The two leading figures of the National Rally have presented different economic visions, especially concerning pensions. According to Bardella, the current French pension system "is not economically sustainable." He also seems hesitant to have his "boss" turn her proposed ban on the wearing of the veil in public spaces into a central campaign issue.
On 31 August, he insisted that the aim was not "to impose a dress code," stressing that a referendum on the issue would be held. The president of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament also appears more pro-market than Le Pen, who has traditionally been more supportive of protectionist measures.
Support for Ukraine
Beyond this, the RN is also facing disagreements over international issues.
Speaking to BFM-TV on 4 September, Louis Aliot, the party’s vice-president and mayor of Perpignan, was asked about aid to Ukraine
"We turn off the tap. The health system, the education system, the whole economy, everything has been cut to the bone, and yet we still find money to fund more weapons (...) I’m willing to accept that, but who pays for all this? You also have to know how to stop a war," he said.
His comments quickly sparked a debate.
Taking to X, Édouard Philippe, the centre-right Horizons party’s candidate for 2027, seized the opportunity to accuse the RN of "its support for Putin’s regime," arguing that "turning off the tap for Ukraine means serving Russia."
"Weakening Ukraine, as Marine Le Pen wants, means threatening the security of Europe and France. I will do everything to stop her," he added.
Le Pen hit back within the hour, reminding the former prime minister that he was in office when the Russian president was "received with great pomp at the Palace of Versailles and then at the Fort of Brégançon," and that he himself had welcomed Dmitry Medvedev, then Russian prime minister, to his home city of Le Havre in June 2019.
National Rally grapples with police scandal
On 8 September, French regional daily Midi Libre released a video from November 2025 showing several municipal police officers in Carcassonne making racist, sexist and conspiracy-related comments during a nighttime patrol.
The patrol leader, responsible for nearly 90% of the remarks made that evening, is a former paratrooper, but he had also volunteered for the RN's internal security service.
He notably escorted Bardella on several trips, including during the promotional tour for his book, as well as at the launch of the RN's municipal election campaign.
The officer in question was expelled from the National Rally on Wednesday. Bardella, for his part, has described his comments as "despicable."
The Carcassonne public prosecutor’s office also announced on Wednesday the suspension of the four municipal police officers who appear in the video.