Emmanuel Macron retaliated against Liz Truss today after the Tory front-runner for the leadership declined to state if the French leader was a “friend” of Britain.
Speaking to Tory members in Norwich last night, the Foreign Secretary stated that “the jury’s out” on Mr. Macron, setting up a new diplomatic spat across the English Channel.
When she enters Downing Street next month, Ms. Truss, who is largely anticipated to follow Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, has pledged to judge the French president by her actions rather than her words.
When questioned about Ms. Truss’s remarks today, Mr. Macron criticized the foreign secretary, saying she had “lost her bearings” in the quest for Number 10.
In the meanwhile, Mr. Johnson made it clear that the French President was a “tres bon pal” of the UK in an effort to ease tensions between Westminster and Paris.
Today, in response to Ms. Truss’s remarks on a trip to Algiers, the capital of Algeria, Mr. Macron threw a scathing jab at the Tory leadership front-runner.
According to him, the UK is a welcoming country, sometimes even in spite of its leaders.
Losing your way in life is never a smart decision. Whoever becomes the next prime minister of Great Britain, I won’t ask myself any questions about them personally, is how I would respond to the question if I had been asked it.
We live in a complex globe, and you know that Great Britain is friends with France.
We have an increasing number of liberal governments, authoritarian democracies, and other imbalance-causing forces.
If we are unable to determine whether the French and British people are allies or enemies—and the word “foes” is not neutral—then we are in for major issues.
“So certainly, I can declare with confidence that the British people and country are our friends.
Regardless of its leaders, and sometimes despite and beyond its leaders, or regardless of the little errors they may make in their speeches, the UK is powerful and allied.
Awkward! Sunak believes Truss would be a better prime minister than Boris, but she choose Johnson over Rishi.
Rishi Sunak saw Liz Truss, a competitor for the Tory leadership, declare that Boris Johnson would be a superior prime minister last night.
The Foreign Secretary’s response came soon after Mr. Sunak expressed his preference for Ms. Truss over Mr. Johnson as prime minister.
We need to advance as a party, Mr. Sunak, who resigned as Mr. Johnson’s Chancellor last month, told Tory members in Norwich.
Many of you here, I’m sure, are furious with me for quitting and wish Boris was present. However, this will not help us forward.
When this is finished, we’ll all be on the same team and part of the same family, so we need to go ahead as a group.
We must concentrate on defeating Keir Starmer since doing else would prevent us from doing so. It’s important that we look forward.
During a visit to an orthopaedic facility in Surrey this morning, Mr. Johnson was asked about Ms. Truss’s statements and made an effort to defuse the diplomatic row.
The departing PM said, “I believe I’ve always had extremely excellent ties with Emmanuel Macron.”
“Emmanuel Macron is a very good friend of our country,”
“I believe the links between the UK and France are of great significance,” Mr. Johnson said.
They have been excellent for a very long time—basically since the Napoleonic era—and I believe we should recognize this.
“As for Emmanuel, I’ve had really strong relationships with him and I can tell you this: he is a wonderful, great supporter of our nation,” the speaker said.
With her statements on Thursday night, Ms. Truss had already come under fire for showing a “worrying lack of judgment” and “playing to the gallery.”
The Foreign Secretary had promised to be “robust” with French authorities on the Channel migrant problem during the Tory leadership race.
Additionally, she is said to be contemplating starting a new Brexit spat with France and other EU countries by ripping up the Northern Ireland Protocol soon after moving into Number 10.
Ms. Truss said of Mr. Macron last night on the last hustings of the Tory leadership race: “If I become PM, I would judge him on deeds not words.”
Critics, however, drew attention to the fact that the UK and France are actively coordinating with other Western countries to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine.
There is playing to the crowd and then there is allowing the biases of the audience go to your head, particularly when this is one of the worst times to attempt to fracture the West, according to former Tory MP David Gauke, who served in Theresa May’s Cabinet with Ms. Truss.
When Mrs. May was prime minister, Lord Barwell served as her chief of staff. He said, “You would have thought the Foreign Secretary was aware we are in a military alliance with France.”
And Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, added: “The Foreign Secretary’s decision to unnecessarily insult one of our closest friends shows a dreadful and worrisome lack of judgment at a time when the West must remain together in the face of Russian efforts to divide us.”
“Liz Truss’ decision-making has obviously gotten obscured by weeks and weeks of playing to the gallery of Tories rather than concentrating on the nation,” the author writes.
In the meanwhile, Ms. Truss received a polite reprimand from Germany’s ambassador to the UK about the significance of Anglo-French ties.
‘I would argue that the connection with France is of fundamental significance for the UK, therefore my proposal would be really to search for a relationship that is as close as possible,’ Miguel Berger said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
“I believe there has to be an effort to get a decent understanding and collaboration with our French neighbors,” he said.
However, Ms. Truss did receive support from her followers for her criticism of Mr. Macron.
Some pointed out how Mr. Macron was said to have called Mr. Johnson a “clown” in a private chat late last year, prior to his successful campaign to be re-elected as French President.
Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor who supports Ms. Truss for the Tory leadership, said today that the Foreign Secretary was making a “light-hearted” remark about the French president.
It was evidently intended as a humorous, light-hearted remark, according to Mr. Zahawi.
Speaking of the obvious, France is one of our closest strategic partners in terms of defense and security in our fight against Putin’s illegitimate invasion of a free and democratic nation in Ukraine.
We prefer that people assess us based on our behavior rather than our words. And I believe it is appropriate that we do the same for our allies.
There were “plenty of giggles,” Mr. Zahawi said, as Ms. Truss made her remarks.
Liz and I are both aware that France is a vital ally in terms of defense, cyber, and our war effort to support Ukraine, and we collaborate closely on all of these fronts.
“We prefer to have our allies judge us based on our actions and deeds rather than just our words, as we have done in Ukraine.”
Liz has spearheaded the fight to penalize Putin and his associates, and as Prime Minister, she will undoubtedly continue to do so.
‘President Macron should demonstrate friendliness to the UK by arresting the people traffickers on French beaches,’ said veteran Tory MP John Redwood, who is expected to take up a Treasury position if Ms. Truss is elected prime minister.
He could also support the necessity for open trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
At yesterday night’s hustings, Rishi Sunak, who is Ms Truss’s adversary for the Tory leadership, was also asked whether Mr. Macron was a “friend or foe,” and he responded immediately: “Friend.”