[NBCNEWS] La Belle France's far-right National Front expelled founder Jean-Marie Le Pen on Thursday in a bid to shed the party's anti-Semitic reputation and bolster his daughter Marine's prospects in a presidential election bid.The decision to sideline the 87-year-old Le Pen was taken by the Front's executive committee after several hours of discussions with him.
"At the end of the meeting held today, the executive committee of the Front National...deliberated and decided, by the required majority, to exclude M. Jean Marie Le Pen as a member," the party said in a statement.
The expulsion followed several earlier attempts to remove him.
Marine Le Pen, who took over the party leadership from her father in 2011, has been trying to rid the party of its anti-Semitic image and position it as an anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic force offering protectionist economic policies.