IN HIS 19th-century mansion on a bluff overlooking Paris, Jean-Marie Le Pen kept in his cluttered office a collection of nautical memorabilia, including a huge pair of brass, stand-mounted binoculars. It is easy to imagine the far-right French leader, who died on January 7th at the age of 96, training his angry gaze at the city below: overrun, he would rant, like the country, by immigrants, Muslims, Jews, gay people and all others he judged undesirable. More than arguably any other post-war leader in Europe, over his seven decades in public life Mr Le Pen was responsible for reviving an extreme form of xenophobic politics, which today has become increasingly mainstream.
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