Mr Le Pen calls his former deputy a traitor. He refuses to recognise the breakaway movement and insists he remains leader of the National Front, dismissing his rivals as "pirates".

Others call Mr Megret "the little corporal" - an effort by his enemies to brand him as a follower of Hitler.

Power games

Much reviled in the media, Bruno Megret has shown himself cunning and ruthless in his battle for control of the far right.

He has the backing of many of the party's key officials and strategists - and even one of Mr Le Pen's three daughters.

With the declared backing of nearly half the party's paid-up members, Mr Megret, 49 described his election as historic.

He dismisses Mr Le Pen as yesterday's man.

He says: "For several years Mr Le Pen has been a handicap to the National Front's development. His speeches and one-liners all damage our election chances."

With his elite French education, and his master of science from the University of Berkeley, California, Mr Megret sees himself as the brains behind the Front's public policies.

Those policies include:

• Sending immigrants out of France.
• Preventing the euro from replacing the franc.
• Defending the national interests of France.

His National Movement aims to succeed where the National Front has failed - in taking real power in more regions and even in central government.

Mr Megret also wants to secure alliances with traditional right-of-centre parties.

It took a shameful fiasco two years ago, when Jean-Marie Le Pen assaulted a female socialist candidate during an election campaign, for Bruno Megret to cut his ties with Mr Le Pen and the Front's old guard.

Mr Megret's manner is much smoother, though his goals are practically the same.

Le Pen still popular

Under Mr Le Pen, the Front has been shunned on almost every side, but with a regular 15% of the national vote, the possibility is there.

But his poitical career is not finished yet.

Jean-Marie Le Pen: Refusing to bow out quietly

"Mr Megret may say he's the president of the National Front," he says. "But he might as well join those deluded people in certain 'institutions' who walk around with one hand in their jacket, thinking they are Napoleon."

A burely former paratrooper, Mr Le Pen is a veteran campaigner who has charm and charisma as well as views on race, immigration and the holocaust that mainstream politicians say are offensive and zenophobic.

And opinion polls suggest the party faithful prefer Mr Le Pen's populism to Mr Megret's backroom skills.

But the first real test will come in European elections in June.