French President Emmanuel Macron allegedly called British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a “clown” in charge of a “circus”, according to reports widely circulated in the media.
The comments allegedly came via Élysée sources speaking to the French political magazine Le Canard enchaîné. While a satirical magazine often compared to Britain’s Private Eye, Le Canard enchaîné has been in print for more than 100 years, is known for its access to long-time government sources and its investigative journalism, and is influential on rival publications as well as ministers.
After President Macron publicly criticised Johnson, itself after the British prime minister has shared an open letter to the French premier with suggestions on how to solve the English Channel migrant crisis, the French weekly claimed Macron had made even more critical remarks in private, calling him a “clown” and referring to his administration as “the Johnson circus” while speaking to advisers during a visit to Croatia last week.
According to translations of the printed magazine published in The Guardian, President Macron had allegedly said: “BoJo talks to me at full speed, everything is going fine, we have discussions like big people, and then he gives us a hard time before or afterwards in an inelegant way. It’s always the same circus.”
“It is very sad to see a great country, with which we could do so much, led by a clown. Johnson has the attitude of a knucklehead,” Macron allegedly added.
President Macron allegedly used the English word “clown”, in an apparent mocking of Prime Minister Johnson’s occasional use of Franglais.
The Times reports that neither the French embassy in London nor the Élysée Palace have denied the French president made the remarks.
British government sources maintaining a diplomatic tone in response to the reports nevertheless signalled to The Telegraph that Macron may be posturing for voters ahead of next Spring’s presidential elections, saying: “The Prime Minister continues to be a staunch and public advocate for the strength of the UK-French relationship.
“Our approach will not change even if we have to wait until the other side of the French presidential election for a change of tone.”
Likewise, Science Minister George Freeman told Sky News on Thursday morning: “I think we are into pantomime season aren’t we — and there’s a French election coming. It’s a pretty unhelpful word. Of course the Prime Minister isn’t a clown.”
The alleged comments come as the former French ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann told Times Radio that Anglo-French relations had “never been as bad since Waterloo”.
While tensions have been high between London and Paris over the ongoing flow of thousands of illegals crossing the English Channel, relations worsened after 27 migrants trying to reach the UK died off the coast of France last month, with Macron snubbing Johnson’s request to better police the French coastline and British Home Secretary Priti Patel being uninvited from a meeting with her French counterpart to discuss the crisis.
The French have resumed talks with the British, but Paris is expected to put forward a deal that would see the UK return one illegal alien to France in exchange for accepting a minor child migrant in Calais — but this is not believed to be considered as a reasonable deterrent to mass migration by the Johnson administration.
Downing Street is pursuing a simple returns agreement that would see migrants arrive illegally to be sent back to France, which it said would be the “single biggest deterrent” to stopping mass migration.
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