Defeated Fillon steps down leaving behind broken party as he faces corruption charges without presidential immunity

François Fillon, the French presidential candidate who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, announced on Monday that he was quitting frontline politics as his centre-Right Republican party squabbled over its future direction.
“I no longer have the legitimacy to lead,” Mr Fillon told a crisis meeting of The Republicans’ executive committee a day after leading the party to its most humiliating defeat in half a century.
He stayed only a few minutes at the talks as recriminations and anger mounted over the party’s unprecedented elimination in the first round of the presidential election.
Read more: Defeated Fillon steps down leaving behind broken party as he faces corruption charges without presidential immunity