Marine Le Pen has described her shock and hurt after her niece hinted she could back Right-wing rival Eric Zemmour for the French presidency in what would be a damaging blow to her campaign. 

In the latest chapter in a deepening family feud, Ms Le Pen, 53, said Marion Marechal’s penchant for Mr Zemmour, a 63-year old former TV polemist, was all the more painful as she had “raised her” like her own daughter.

Ms Maréchal, 32, who has dropped her former Le Pen surname, reportedly told Le Parisien newspaper that she would not support her aunt’s electoral bid under any circumstances because she had “changed political tack too often” to be credible.

Mr Zemmour, on the other hand, had “made a lot of progress in his stance, tone and seriousness”, she said.

In a separate interview with Le Figaro, she added: “His coherence, vision and strategy make me sway towards Eric Zemmour that’s for sure.”

Asked whether she would throw her weight behind Mr Zemmour, she told the paper: ”I’m thinking about it, no decision has been taken”. She will reportedly make an announcement next month.

While Ms Le Pen, the National Rally candidate, remains currently well ahead of her hard-Right adversary, there is reportedly genuine concern in her camp that her niece’s active involvement in the Zemmour campaign could trigger a stampede in his favour.

Ms Maréchal, who withdrew from public life in 2017 to run a conservative political sciences school in Lyon and raise a family (she is expecting a baby in June), also confirmed her intention to return to politics after five years out of the spotlight.

However, she made it clear: “If I support Eric, it’s not just to pop by and say ‘hi’…It’s a real life change, a big decision.”

Ms Maréchal said the idea of returning to frontline French politics had been “niggling me for some time” but that she didn’t want to “create any family splits”. “There is a family issue,” she said.