Episode Details

Just a year ago, the leader of France's far-right National Rally party appeared finished after being convicted in an embezzlement case and barred from seeking office. 

Now, Marine Le Pen is back in the race, after a Paris appeals court upheld her conviction but shortened her ban from seeking public office, paving the way for her 2027 presidential bid. 

With the National Rally party currenty standing as one of France's most popular parties, it's an election that could reshape Europe. 

So how did the French far-right move from the political fringe to the verge of power? Can Le Pen credit her support more to anti-immigration sentiment, or a frustration with the staid political status quo?

Victor Mallet is the senior editor of the Financial Times, and author of Far Right France: Le Pen, Bardella, and the Future of Europe. Victor has been travelling across France speaking to some of Le Pen's most loyal voters, her most strident opponents, and the wayward voters caught in the middle. 

Laura Tingle and Latika Bourke speak to Victor about Le Pen's comeback, the rise of her protégé Jordan Bardella, the collapse of Emmanuel Macron's legacy, and what the National Rally party's victory would mean for the world.