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Mr Fillon served as prime minister under Mr Sarkozy from 2007, while Mr Valls was Mr Hollande's number two up until Monday – the day Mr Valls quit his post to join the presidential race. And the Front National leader condemned the former deputies, accusing them of "doing nothing" to stop the rise of Islamist terrorism while serving as PM. Mrs Le Pen said: "They both served as prime minister for five years – slightly less for Mr Valls – but during all that time they did nothing for the French.”

GETTY Marine Le Pen has blasted her presidential rivals of ‘doing nothing’

GETTY ‘I’m running in the name of the people’, says Marine Le Pen

The presidential hopeful added that both her rivals had “done nothing to quell the rise of Islamic fundamentalism” and had “failed to stem the tidal wave of migrants pouring into France”, before adding that the two men had “plunged the country further into debt”.

I can’t wait for our first face-off, because our projects are sharply different Marine Le Pen - Leader of Front National

She said: “People are well aware that by voting for Mr Fillon or Mr Valls, the situation in France will not improve.” The extreme-right chief added that Mr Fillon was a “great candidate” to face in the presidential election, but denied claims that the conservative politician would siphon votes away from her. She said: “I’m running in the name of the people, but Mr Fillon is running in the name of the EU, in the name of banks and in the name of private companies.

GETTY Former French Prime Minister and presidential candidate Francois Fillon

"I can’t wait for our first face-off, because our projects are sharply different.” Mrs Le Pen confirmed there would be no Front National primary, before adding the inner-party election was a “sign of weakness”. She said: “The left and right hold primaries to select their party’s presidential nominee because they have no natural candidate. But primaries are a sign of weakness. We don’t need a primary election because I am my party’s natural candidate.” Mrs Le Pen also positioned herself as a “staunch defender of women’s rights” and dismissed a suggestion from her niece, Marion Le Pen, that her party was anti-abortion. She said: “I want to help women who are told what they can and cannot wear and who are forced into loveless marriages. And let me be clear, I do not intend to restrict women’s access to safe and legal abortions.”

GETTY Former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Manuel Valls

Things you didn't know about Marine Le Pen Fri, May 5, 2017 Marine Le Pen is a French politician who is the president of the National Front, a national-conservative political party in France and one of its main political forces. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 Described as more democratic and republican than her nationalist father, she has led a movement of "de-demonization of the Front National" to detoxify it and soften its image