Jean-Marie Le Pen, a domineering and polarizing figure in French politics and founder of the National Rally party, died at age 96. National Rally President Jordan Bardella announced his death on Tuesday in a post on X.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, an extreme right-winger who haunted the French political establishment for decades, died on Tuesday aged 96, dividing opinion until the end. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a hardline right-winger,

Mr Le Pen's long political career was all about belligerence, anger, regret and scapegoats - but it would be wrong to write him off as merely an agitator.