Marine Le Pen accused of plagiarising Francois Fillon in May Day speech
Source: The Guardian
Marine Le Pen accused of plagiarising François Fillon in May Day speech
Presidential candidates 1 May address mocked on social media
for using lines straight from speech by defeated rival
Kim Willsher in Paris
Tuesday 2 May 2017 15.38 BST
The far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has been accused of plagiarism after she used phrases taken from a defeated rivals speech in a May Day rally.
Five days from the second round vote, Le Pen came in for criticism and ridicule after it was revealed that some of the rousing rhetoric she used in a meeting of thousands of supporters on Tuesday came from a speech given by the conservative Les Républicains candidate, François Fillon.
The original speech, delivered by Fillon shortly before he was knocked out in the first round of the contest, was on the subject of Frances role in Europe and the world. Le Pens, made at a Front National May Day rally, was on Frances roots in western Europe.
As the row raged, however, a former French MEP and one-time ally of both candidates, Paul-Marie Couteaux, claimed he had first written the words.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/02/marine-le-pen-francois-fillon-phrases-may-day-speech