Le Pen’s ‘TikTok star’ protege she hopes will turn out to be France’s subsequent PM

France‘s far-right party National Rally have power in their sights after Emmanuel Macron‘s shock decision to call a snap election.

The president’s gamble came after a bruising loss in the weekend’s European Parliament elections which saw hard right parties make gains in many EU countries.

Macron’s decision grabbed the headlines as polls closed and left many in France and abroad imagining a future in which Marine Le Pen‘s National Rally (RN) party (formerly the National Front) is in control of the French legislature.

But while Le Pen may be gunning for the 2027 presidential election, the party has another leader who could be in a significant position of power by July: Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege and political ‘wunderkind’ Jordan Bardella.

Helmed by Bardella, the RN won nearly 32 percent of Sunday’s European Parliament vote, over double the Macron ticket’s 14.6 percent.

With Bardella standing to her left, Le Pen appeared on stage to tell her supporters: ‘We are ready to take power if the French show trust in us.’ 

A ‘mild mannered, impeccably dressed’ politician Bardella is already the party’s confirmed candidate to replace the current prime minister, 35-year-old Gabriel Attal – should the party seal a victory when France goes to the polls on June 30 and July 7.

According to the New York Times, Bardella has vowed to ‘upend the politics of the country to save it from “disappearance”‘ as leader of the anti-immigration party.

Some far-right supporters in France increasingly refer to the false ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory that the populations of Western countries are being overrun by non-white, non-Christian immigrants.

The claim, propagated by white supremacists, has inspired deadly attacks.

He is a cherished disciple of his mentor Le Pen, who he replaced as party leader in November 2022 – winning an internal party vote with 85% support when he was just 27. The move marked a symbolic changing of the guard at the RN. 

He is the first person to lead the party who doesn’t have the Le Pen name since it was founded a half-century ago by Marine’s controversial father Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Marine, who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022 – losing each time, twice to Macron – once called Bardella the ‘lion cub’.

Now she calls him ‘The Lion’, the New York publication reports.

When she stepped aside as leader of the party, she said it was to focus on leading the party’s 89 lawmakers in France’s National Assembly. But many understood her decision to be the continuation of the party’s efforts to normalise its image.

Bardella is young, clean cut and makes clever use of TikTok – becoming a star in his own right on the social media app popular among the younger generations.

There, he has 1.5 million followers, meaning he has one of the largest TikTok followings in French politics. He has another 600,000 on Instagram.

By leveraging his social media presence, he has become the acceptable face of the French far right for the country’s young voters.

Bardella has spoken of his humble background.

His mother was an immigrant from Italy, and he grew up in a single-parent home on the eighth floor of a ‘drab tower block’ in ‘crime-ridden’ Seine-Saint-Denis.

He joined the National Rally at the age of 16 and quickly rose through the party’s ranks, guided by Le Pen as his mentor.

She ‘spotted his potential’ early on, according to The Times, at a time when the party was starting to rebrand itself after years of controversy.

Founder of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, once ran the party from a chateau in a rich town west of the capital.

He was accused of xenophobia and antisemitism, having repeatedly denied the Nazi Holocaust, and was convicted of inciting racial hatred at least six times.

Since taking over the party from her father, however, Marine Le Pen has worked to soften the party’s image, particularly to make it more acceptable for younger voters who once would never have dreamed of voting for the National Rally. 

Part of that has seen Le Pen working to remove the stigma of racism and antisemitism that clung to her party and broaden its base. 

She has notably distanced herself from her now-ostracised father.

The party has still faced criticism though, with many denouncing what they see as a creeping acceptance of its xenophobic views.

Marine Le Pen has also been accused of having ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, and of remaining soft on the despot despite his invasion of Ukraine in 2022 which continues to this day.

While Le Pen condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she has also questioned resulting Western sanctions against Russia.

Her party also took out a $9 million loan from the First Czech-Russian bank in 2014 that many see as a Russian effort to influence French politics. 

Bardella is another degree of separation from Jean-Marie Le Pen, with his age and savvy use of social media helping the party appeal to a new generation of voters.

‘Bardella is part of a generation of young, very young, people who engaged themselves behind Marine Le Pen in the 2010s and who probably wouldn’t have joined the National Rally during Jean-Marie Le Pen´s era,’ political scientist Jean-Yves Camus told The Associated Press. 

And despite his age, his is also seen as being highly competent. 

During the campaign in the run up to the European Elections, many agreed he won a debate against Valerie Hayer – the little-known head of Macron’s party.

In a second debate on May 23, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal stepped in for Hayer and put Bardella under pressure over his views on Europe.

Attal accused his slightly younger counterpart of leading a party without substance that had no interest in Europe, and of ‘turning in on ourselves and the end of the European Union.’

‘I am not against Europe. I am against the way Europe works now,’ Bardella hit back.

This tracks with recent reports which have said the party leader has put the National Rally’s ambition of leaving the European Union behind it.

The party does continue to oppose EU integration, though, and has said it intends to water down Brussels’s ‘green deal’ environmental policies’, The Times reports.

In another sign that the National Rally is looking to normalise its image and appear more moderate, Bardella has steered the party away from another far-right party in Europe – the AfD party – after a series of controversies for the party in Germany.

Bardella had already been urging Macron to call an election before the European Parliament votes, and he was ready to make a statement on Sunday when he appeared on stage with his mentor Le Pen.

‘France has given its verdict and there is no appeal,’ he told supporters on Sunday evening. ‘Our compatriots have expressed a desire for change but also a path for the future,’ he said.

The result showed the ‘determination of our country for the EU to change direction,’ he continued, adding: ‘It is wind of hope and it is only the start.’

As for Macron, the results have left the incumbent a ‘weakened president’, he said.

Having got his wish, it appears – for now at least – that he is set to be the party’s candidate as Prime Minister, and to potentially lay the groundwork for Le Pen to have yet another go at putting herself in the Élysée Palace.

According to the New York Times, however, there are concerns that the ‘prodigal son’ could well go on to ‘eclipse his maker’.

Some have suggested, the publication says, that if he continues on the current trajectory, Bardella could be a better presidential candidate than Le Pen by 2027.

Never before has the National Rally been seen by enough French voters as an acceptable choice to hand power to. Under Bardella, that could well change.