Marine Le Pen no longer even pretends to compete with her protégé on the applause meter. "Yes, this autumn is the [Jordan] Bardella moment. But I have the impression that it's always the Bardella moment," smiled the leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), on Tuesday, November 12, in a plush Paris salon, where Bardella, her party's chairman, was holding his book launch. It was a strange moment for Le Pen. On the eve of the prosecutor's closing arguments in the case in which she is threatened with a ban from holding public office, she was a spectator at the celebration of her lieutenant. Among the guests were a good number of RN lawmakers and many figures of from Canal+, the broadcasting group owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who also owns Bardella's publisher Fayard.

However much Le Pen may repeat that Bardella's popularity would serve her fourth presidential ambition, current events are putting their hierarchy to the test more than ever. Between him and her, there is no rivalry, they swear. Even less betrayal. "We're not like the others," Bardella repeats everywhere. As proof of their mutual loyalty, the two far-right leaders have sealed their destinies on paper as early as September 2023: Le Pen will aim for the presidency in 2027, Bardella to be her prime minister. An immutable plan? The question has been asked too many times for either of them to stumble on the answer. Le Pen brushes aside any doubts with a tireless pirouette: "You never know, I could still be mowed down by a truck."

Bardella, for his part, is now less ironic. Asked on CNews Tuesday morning "who's the right person" to help his camp triumph, the MEP replied that "that's up to circumstances." Not necessarily Le Pen, then. Bardella then took care not to deny when the journalist twice said that, "for some, the name 'Le Pen' forbids [entry to] the Elysée."

You have 58.73% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.