1928: Jean-Marie Le Pen is born in Brittany. During the second World War, his father, Jean, a fisherman, is killed when his boat strikes a German mine, enabling Mr Le Pen to claim he is a victim of Nazism.

1953: Mr Le Pen becomes a paratrooper in Indochina. He is elected to the French parliament as a member of the populist Poujadist party in 1956, but returns to the military the following year to fight in Algeria, where he is accused of torturing Arab guerrillas.

1972: After a decade of quarrels, Mr Le Pen unites extreme right-wing groups in the National Front (FN).

1984: The FN wins 10.95 per cent of the vote and 10 seats in the European parliament in its first electoral breakthrough. Two years later, it gains 35 seats in the French national assembly. The electoral law is subsequently changed to diminish its strength.

1988: Mr Le Pen wins 14.38 per cent of the vote in the French presidential election, following a campaign run by Mr Bruno Megret.

1995: Le Pen stands for president a second time and wins 15 per cent of the vote.

1997: At the party's Strasbourg congress, Mr Le Pen becomes aware of the growing power of his deputy, Mr Megret. Their rivalry comes to the fore in the summer of 1998, when Mr Megret opposes Mr Le Pen's appointment of his wife, Jany, to lead the FN list in the June 1999 European elections.

December 1998: Mr Le Pen is booed when he tries to expel Megret supporters from a party meeting. During 10 days of verbal attacks and counter-attacks, Mr Le Pen calls his challengers racists, extremists, traitors and felons. The conflict culminates in the division of the FN into warring Le Pen and Megret factions.