France's far-right National Front party ousts founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen

France's National Front party expelled its founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, on Thursday, following a war of words with his daughter — current party leader Marine Le Pen.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the party in 1972, was serving as honorary president when he was suspended in May for saying he saw the Holocaust as a "detail of history." He challenged the suspension in court, and in July a judge overturned it, saying proper procedure had not been followed. Thursday's decision to expel Le Pen came during an extraordinary general meeting that was ordered by the judge.

In 2011, Marine Le Pen took over as leader in order to "steer the party away from its racist and anti-Semitic past," the BBC reports. After her father made his remarks on the Holocaust, Marine Le Pen said he was attempting to "rescue himself from obscurity," and later said he should "no longer be able to speak in the name of the National Front."

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