Standing next to Marine Le Pen on their first presidential campaign double-act in the market town of La Flèche in north west France, Jordan Bardella said what loyalty and his political future required.
He was “extremely happy” to be launching their joint bid for her to become president and he prime minister. “Delighted,” even. His poker face said the opposite.
Just 24 hours before, polls had the young National Rally (RN) president winning the first round vote in France’s presidential election next April and en route to make a serious challenge for the Elysée Palace in the second round.
Then, Le Pen was awaiting an appeal court judgment to decide her political future. But the nationalist leader had repeatedly insisted she would not run for president unless her conviction for embezzling European Union funds, which brought a ban on seeking public office for five years, was overturned. That seemed unlikely.
She had also said she would not stand if ordered to wear an electronic bracelet.
But after a surprising legal judgment on Tuesday, which confirmed Le Pen’s conviction but reduced the ban and cleared the way for her to join the presidential race, the far-right matriarch changed her mind.
After immediately consulting her lawyers and inner circle – but not Bardella – Le Pen announced she would stand after all. For Bardella, plan B suddenly became plan back burner. The 30-year-old must now park his ambitions and throw his weight behind the party grandee.
“Of course Jordan is disappointed. He saw himself with a very good chance of being president,” one RN insider said. “But once he gets over his disappointment, he’ll realise it’s probably a good thing. He’s young and he’ll have another chance.”
Victor Mallet, whose book Far-Right France, Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe, charts the rise of the party, told The Observer: “The court verdict and Le Pen’s decision to stand having said she would not do so, came as a surprise to almost all of France and, by the look on his face, to Bardella as well.
“It took him 12 hours to say anything. The expectation was she would not stand, but she threw all the cards into the air.”
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Polls taken after Le Pen’s announcement suggested she is on course to win the first round next April with 36% of the vote – 17% more than her nearest rival, the conservative former prime minister Édouard Philippe – and win the second round, albeit narrowly.
“Le Pen as a candidate is better for the party; she has more experience, is a known quantity and has the political name,” said Mallet. “[Bardella] is a hero for young rightwing people, so it’s a strong combination. The chances of the RN winning have increased.”
The pair have differences on the economy. Le Pen, 57, is an old-fashioned statist, while Bardella is more hands off and supports big business. She wants to appeal to the traditional far-right, while he would aim to expand support into traditional conservative rightwing territory. The pair differ most markedly on their attitude towards Russia, with Bardella robust in condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday the duo faced a hostile crowd in La Flèche. The mood was a marked contrast to last November, when Bardella made a solo appearance in the town to sign his bestselling book, What the French Want, and was greeted with cries of, “Jordan President”.
Analysts say the hero worship he has received over the past few months, when it seemed Le Pen would not stand, will not tempt Bardella to go solo this time.
“There is a divergence of views that was becoming stronger and stronger the more Bardella saw himself as the likely candidate and started to mark out his territory. Now that has come to a screeching halt,” Mallet said.
“They will put their differences aside. She is running the show, he will be in complete agreement with her and we will see a show of unity in the next few months. It would be foolish for Bardella to do otherwise,” he added.
Alexandre Sulzer, political reporter at Le Parisien, wrote: “The relationship between Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen is kept very secret even from members of the RN’s innermost circle.
“Rather than simply bringing him into line, I would say above all that Marine Le Pen has reminded everyone who is boss!”
Le Pen insists she is innocent of any wrongdoing but two courts have now convicted her and other RN members of embezzling €4m (£3.4m) in EU funds for Brussels-based assistants to pay party staff in France. There is no suggestion she made any personal financial gain.
She has announced she will appeal to the Court of Cassation, France’s highest legal authority that can only rule on the appeal court’s interpretation of the law. Le Pen, who remains presumed innocent until the appeal process is exhausted, hopes to delay having the electronic bracelet fitted until after the campaign.
On Tuesday she said she was “glad the court has given the French the freedom to vote for who they want”.
Political opponents and critics have accused Le Pen of hypocrisy. She previously called for all politicians found guilty of fraud to be banned from office for life.
“It’s a very Maga approach, the establishment, institutions, the elite be damned. All that matters is what the voters say. It’s Farage’s approach,” Mallet said.
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Photograph by Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images