French far-right family feud deepens

France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen Thursday said her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party, would appear before a disciplinary body -- and should consider quitting politics -- after making controversial comments about the Holocaust.
A dramatic family feud first burst into the open Wednesday with Marine accusing her controversy-loving father of committing "political suicide" when he said Nazi gas chambers were a "detail of history" and defended war-time French leader Philippe Petain, who collaborated with Hitler's regime.
On Thursday, Marine Le Pen said the 86-year-old former FN leader had been summoned "to the executive body" for disciplinary proceedings.
Marine Le Pen also asked her father "to prove his wisdom, draw the consequences of the trouble he himself has created and maybe give up his political responsibilities."
Marine Le Pen said on TF1 television that the row pained her deeply -- both as a daughter and a member of the FN, which has made huge electoral strides in recent years, becoming one of Europe's most successful far right parties.
"But before being daughter and father... we are political leaders and in being so we have huge responsibilities with regard to not only the future of the National Front but also to the future of our country," she said.
Political rivals immediately took pot shots at the pair.
- 'Humiliating family drama' -
"We feel humiliated to witness this spectacle," said France's center-right former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
"This family drama -- one doesn't know whether to shed tears of laughter or tears of sorrow," he said.  
The elder Le Pen has been no stranger to controversy since he became head of the far-right party in 1972, and he continued to come out with shocking statements even after his daughter took over the reins of the National Front in 2011.
But his latest sorties appear to have been the last straw for Marine Le Pen, who has been trying to clean up the party's anti-Semitic and racist image since she took over, a move that has seen it soar in opinion polls as it attracts more mainstream voters.
Apart from condemning the comments, the 46-year-old also said Wednesday she would oppose her father standing in regional elections in December.
Jean-Marie Le Pen's repeat controversial comments over the years -- which have also included saying the Nazi occupation of France "was not particularly inhumane" -- have earned him a string of convictions for hate speech along the way.
The feisty elder Le Pen warned his daughter in a statement against fuelling a "crisis that could have serious consequences".
Some observers suspect a deliberate strategy in such public feuds: Jean-Marie Le Pen provokes with shocking statements which allow his daughter to slap him down and appear more mainstream.
Since taking over from her father in 2011, Marine has led the party to a series of electoral successes, winning first place in last year's European elections.
An opinion poll published on Saturday suggested that nearly a quarter of French people would vote for the FN in the 2017 presidential election.