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| French candidate Francois Fillon pulls out of key event | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| French centre-right candidate Francois Fillon has dramatically withdrawn from a visit to a major farm fair at the last minute, raising further doubts about his campaign. | French centre-right candidate Francois Fillon has dramatically withdrawn from a visit to a major farm fair at the last minute, raising further doubts about his campaign. |
| One unconfirmed report said he had been summoned by magistrates investigating allegations that his wife was paid for years for work she did not do. | One unconfirmed report said he had been summoned by magistrates investigating allegations that his wife was paid for years for work she did not do. |
| The "fake jobs" claims have damaged his campaign and he is currently third in opinion polls. | The "fake jobs" claims have damaged his campaign and he is currently third in opinion polls. |
| He is due to speak publicly later. | He is due to speak publicly later. |
| Political rivals seized on news that he had pulled out of his visit to the Paris agricultural fair, seen as an essential appearance for any prospective candidate. | Political rivals seized on news that he had pulled out of his visit to the Paris agricultural fair, seen as an essential appearance for any prospective candidate. |
| "It's like symbolically giving up on your candidacy," said Florian Philippot, close adviser to far-right National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen. The FN leader is currently topping the polls for the first round of the presidential vote on 23 April. | "It's like symbolically giving up on your candidacy," said Florian Philippot, close adviser to far-right National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen. The FN leader is currently topping the polls for the first round of the presidential vote on 23 April. |
| Ms Le Pen visited the fair on Tuesday and another of the front-runners for the presidency, Emmanuel Macron, was due to go on Wednesday. Even close members of Mr Fillon's entourage were unaware that he was pulling out of the event until the last minute. | |
| Mr Fillon was due to speak to reporters from his Paris campaign headquarters at 12:00 (11:00 GMT) but his officials immediately rejected suggestions that his campaign was in trouble. | |
| His appearances have recently been accompanied by loud protests and he has accused the government of allowing the campaign to turn into "a climate of quasi civil war". | |
| Has he done anything wrong? | |
| The allegations circling around the Fillon family focus mainly on his Welsh-born wife Penelope. | |
| A satirical weekly said she was paid over several years €831,400 (£710,000; $900,000) for working as a parliamentary assistant but reportedly had no parliamentary pass. She was also alleged to have picked up €100,000 for writing a handful of articles for a literary journal. | |
| What you need to know about the Fillon payment inquiry | |
| Another unconfirmed report from investigative website Mediapart said on Wednesday that Penelope Fillon herself was in police custody. | |
| Initially Mr Fillon said he would stand down as a candidate if his case was placed under formal investigation, but recently he insisted that he would fight on "until victory". | |
| "The closer we get to the date of the presidential election, the more scandalous it would be to deprive the right and centre of a candidate," he said. |