France has now finally claimed it will intercept small boats as they prepare to cross the Channel, although only before they’ve picked up passengers. According to Le Monde, the escalation is a result of a sustained ‘pressure campaign’ from the UK government. Starmer reportedly wrote to Macron encouraging him to back tougher measures, saying “it is essential that we deploy these tactics this month… We have no effective deterrent in the Channel”. Quite the admission from Starmer; was ‘smashing the gangs’ and the potemkin ‘one in, one out’ deal not enough?
A UK government spokesman said:
“We continue to work closely with our French partners on the shared challenge of illegal migration, and we have already worked to ensure officers in France review their maritime tactics so they can intervene in the shallow waters.”
The proof will be in the pudding…
Guido hears the awkward bromance between Starmer and Macron is on the rocks. The PM and his bag carriers tried repeatedly to organise a meeting with the French during the COP30 summit, only to be given the cold shoulder by Macron’s team. Numerous attempts were made by increasingly senior officials to call the French delegation and track them down. A government source tells Guido that the French “managed to effect the most amazing disappearing act”, with no meeting or call taking place. Macron’s David Copperfield act was reportedly very effective..
The FT reported Starmer had the same issue with Ursula Von Der Leyen, who also dodged his request for a meeting over the the EU’s money demands for the SAFE defence fund. The French are understood to be the driving force behind that (ridiculous) hard bargain, which would explain Macron’s evasiveness. Ghosted on the world stage…
Macron may not have noticed Starmer’s faux pas diplomatique yesterday when the PM misspelled Charles de Gaulle’s name on the wreath he laid at the French hero’s statue. Mon dieu…
There was as fiddly ceremony at Carlton Gardens yesterday to lay the wreaths. Starmer’s handwritten note reads:
“In memory of President de Gualle and the free French forces now, as then, we stand together for freedom & democracy on this continent, Keir Starmer.”
An ampersand – lazy. It’s hard when Morgan isn’t writing your copy…
Spotted by a passing Tory adviser the galling mistake may throw a spanner in the works of this afternoon’s private Macron-Starmer meeting in Downing Street. Will the French President push for extra concessions on the one in one out migrant deal after this insult?
Emmanuel Macron is addressing Parliament on his state visit. He has just popped over from Westminster Abbey. Follow along with proceedings here…
Macron repeats calls for Starmer to recognise a state of Palestine, with “political momentum [being] the only path to peace.” A break with the UK’s current policy…
Macron goes on to praise Starmer’s EU surrender deal, adding that Brexit was a decision that France “respects” even if they found it “deeply regrettable.” Some laughter in the room…
Macron adds that the small boat crisis is an issue for both the UK and France, but that “we will only arrive at a lasting and effective solution with action as well at the European level.” One in, one out deal yet to be sealed…
Keir Starmer’s major reset and pivot back to Europe has been the cornerstone of his foreign policy since he became PM. Multiple trips to Brussels, cosying up to EU leaders and generally getting back on the EU circuit was pitched to business leaders as Labour’s big plan…
But it’s all come to nothing as the EU has decided to exclude British defence companies from its new €150 billion defence fund. The new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) mechanism has published its terms and includes a ‘buy European’ clause banning arms purchases from the UK, US and other non-EU countries. The French are suspected of having secured the exclusion of the UK as a shot in an ongoing separate row over fishing rights (part of Starmer’s re-opened EU settlement). Despite Starmer’s Ukraine diplomacy, standing shoulder to shoulder with Macron, the French have totally shafted him…
A distraught Labour source told the newspapers: “Europe needs Britain’s defence industry a bit more than the French need a few extra fish. It is astonishing how puerile the French are behaving. They have not grasped the enormity of the moment.” Welcome to the real world…
The UK is holding out against signing the Paris AI Summit communique, pioneered by Macron. It played down UK-pioneered voluntary safety commitments from AI firms in favour of such priorities as “making AI sustainable for people and the planet”…
Science secretary Peter Kyle yesterday said “We’re engaging fully with the French” and refused to comment on negotiations – Downing Street now gives reasons for the UK’s refusal: “We felt the declaration didn’t provide enough practical clarity on global governance, nor sufficiently address harder questions around national security and the challenge AI poses to it.” That joins the US, which happens to have 37% of the AI market. Macron will be fuming…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
