‘So I say with absolute certainty, that the British people, the nation of the UK, is a good friend and an ally, whoever its leaders are, and sometimes in spite of the leaders and the little mistakes they might make in comments on the campaign trail.”
President Emmanuel Macron hit the nail on the head in responding to British foreign secretary Liz Truss’s remarks about France in her off-the-cuff comments the previous day, when she said “the jury’s out” on whether that country is a friend or a foe of the UK. France and the UK are allies in Nato, nuclear weapons collaborators and joint European members of the United Nations Security Council.
Macron added that in a world of authoritarian democracies and illiberal powers, the UK and France are heading for serious trouble if they cannot see these fundamental facts. Outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson felt it necessary to insist Franco-British relations are good and of huge importance.
The affair raises questions about Truss’s judgment. Her intense focus on winning the premiership contest has obscured wider common interests as British irritations with France over the Northern Ireland protocol, refugees, fishing disputes and transport queues at Dover spill over into xenophobic headlines. Most of the issues arise from the hard Brexit Truss is planning to implement if she wins. Support from likely cabinet members for her remarks offers little assurance she can temper this campaign Francophobia with strategic realism in office. There is scant evidence here of the pragmatic qualities some see in her previous policy shifts.
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Macron shares long-standing French suspicions that the UK’s European policies are aimed at undermining European strategic autonomy. Yet his recent offer of a place for the UK in a European political community wider than the EU is geared to British interests in the continent’s security. Truss said deeds not words will convince her of French goodwill. Macron’s reframing of her comments shows he understands what is at stake far better than she does.