James O'Brien says 'even French fascists' think leaving EU is 'stupid' after Brexit
25 April 2022, 14:07
James O'Brien notes Marine Le Pen dropped her Frexit plan
James O'Brien has argued Brexit has turned into such a disaster that even "fascists in France" no longer want to leave the EU.
Marine Le Pen came second in the French presidential election on Sunday, with 41% of the vote, to Emmanuel Macron's 59%.
Notably she dropped plans to take France out of the EU and Eurozone from her platform, though she did vow to regain some powers from Brussels.
On his LBC show James argued it was the reality of Britain's EU exit which turned Le Pen against Frexit.
Referring to the far-right leader, he said: "She even, after the reality of Brexit became clear in this country, dropped the policy of leading France out of the European Union.
"So there's a Brexit benefit for you - it's all going so badly here even fascists in France have decided leaving the European Union would be a fairly stupid thing to do!"
Iain Dale: There are plenty of Brexit benefits to be had
Le Pen took over the far-right Front National party from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, a convicted Holocaust denier.
He reached the second round of the French presidential election in 2002, where he lost by 18% to 82%.
Marine Le Pen later expelled her father from the party he founded.
She renamed the party National Rally and moderated some of its opinions.
However James argued at core she remains loyal to the extreme right.
He commented: "A far-right threat to democracy and European security coming within half a dozen percentage points of becoming the leader of France."
UK trade with the EU fell by £20bn last year, according to the Office for National Statistics, after Boris Johnson's new Brexit trade deal came into effect.
