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Sir: One reason for the increase in the Front National's vote at the regional elec- tions in France, to which Douglas Johnson refers in his piece, 'From Papon to Le Pen' (11 April), may be that the electorate sim- ply does not find the FN to be the party it is widely portrayed to be by the media. One person in six now votes FN.
In Le Monde of 15 April, Jean-Marie Le Pen wrote a letter emphasising that his party was democratic, republican and . . a declared adversary of all forms of totalitari- anism'. In the same paper, in its 29-30 March edition, Pierre Descaves, a char- tered accountant and the most politically moderate man I know, a member of the FN's political bureau (governing body) and the party's senior councillor for the Picardy region, was reported as saying, 'For us, all citizens have the same rights and duties without distinction of colour, race or reli- gion', a comment which led the Gaullist (UDF) regional president, Charles Baur, to remark, 'I look to what men say, not what it is suggested they will say.'
Elsewhere, increasing numbers of Gaullist politicians are asking themselves the pertinent question: why should it be so awful to co-operate with the FN in regional government when the Socialists are com- bining in national government with the Communists?
The FN has within its ranks some very high-quality people: intellectuals in abun- dance, university professors, lawyers, doc- tors, architects, businessmen and women, as well as war heroes and escapees from Nazi concentration camps. Maybe Vichy supporters are there as well, but the other political parties have their fair share, too. Further, for a party that is allegedly racist it is surprising to find the FN has the backing of a fair number of French Jews, Muslims and Arabs, as well as black French men and women, many of them holding responsible positions in the party.
Peter Strudwick
15 Clapgate Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire
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