Les Républicains leader vows to stay on despite revolt over Le Pen alliance plans

Éric Ciotti at the party’s headquarters on Tuesday. He said he had closed the doors on Wednesday ‘after receiving threats’. Photograph: Jacques Witt/Sipa/Rex/Shutterstock

Éric Ciotti, the leader of France’s mainstream rightwing party, Les Républicains, has vowed he will stay in his job despite key members of his party voting unanimously to oust him over his proposed alliance with the far right.

Ciotti was believed to have been holed up in his office on Wednesday after locking members out of his party’s Paris headquarters amid a mass revolt over his call for an alliance with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.