Emmanuel Macron ‘calls Boris Johnson a ‘clown’ and Britain a ‘circus’ in diplomatic broadside’

View
comments

Emmanuel Macron called Boris Johnson a ‘clown’ and Britain a ‘circus’ in a stinging diplomatic broadside amid the Channel migrant crisis, a French magazine has claimed.

Impeccably placed insiders in Paris told the highly respected investigative weekly Le Canard Enchaine (The Chained Duck) that Mr Macron made the comments during a trip to Croatia on Thursday last week.

This was the day after 27 migrants, including women and children, drowned after a boat provided by people smugglers capsized as they tried to reach England from the coast of France.

Le Canard writes: ‘As soon as he arrived in Zagreb on 24 November, Macron spoke to Boris Johnson on the phone about the tragedy in Calais.’

During this conversation, Mr Macon’s advisors learned that the Prime Minister had already used Twitter to publish ‘a letter he had just sent to Macron, which Macron had not yet been able to read.’

Mr Macron was incensed about this, and told advisors in Zagreb, Croatia: ‘Bojo talks to me, he’s down to earth, everything’s fine, we’re having grown-up discussions and then he sticks it to us either beforehand or afterwards in an inelegant manner. It’s always the same circus.’

Mr Macron, a massive opponent of Brexit, also blamed Britain leaving the EU as the ‘starting point’ of ongoing tensions between the UK and France.

According to Le Canard, Mr Macron said: ‘Very quickly, Boris Johnson realised that the situation was catastrophic for the British. There’s no petrol in the pumps, there’s a whole bunch of stuff missing. He positions himself as a victim, he makes France a scapegoat, he tries to turn every simplistic situation into a complex problem. We have been in this situation since March.

‘He has done this on the sausage war, on fishing and on the submarine affair [in which France lost a multi-billion pounds submarine contract to build boats for Australia to the USA and UK].’

Mr Macron is then quoted as saying of Mr Johnson: ‘In private, he says he is sorry to act this way, but he admits that above all he must respond to public opinion.’

It is then that Mr Macron said: ‘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 good-for-nothing.’ 

The letter posted by Mr Johnson on Twitter outlined British proposals to set up joint patrols and a new bilateral agreement to allow for the immediate return of those who cross the Channel.

Mr Macron publicly branded the demands and the online release of the letter as ‘not serious’.

It prompted his government to bar Home Secretary Priti Patel from an emergency meeting of ministers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to discuss the migration crisis last Sunday.

The Elysee Palace today refused to comment on the Canard story.

Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister, on Monday said that France was ready to begin discussions if the British entered talks in a ‘serious spirit’. 

The number crossing the Channel has surged to 25,776 in 2021, up from 8,461 in 2020 and 1,835 in 2019, according to Home Office data. 

Mr Macron last Friday warned the Prime Minister to ‘get serious’ if he wanted to tackle the crisis.

This despite Miss Patel pledging £55 million to Paris in June to help France patrol the border – the latest in a long line of similar lump sums provided by the UK taxpayer.   

Mr Macron claimed that he was ‘surprised’ by Mr Johnson’s methods, which he branded ‘not serious’.

The French President added: ‘One leader does not communicate with another on these questions on Twitter, nor by public letter’.

In turn, Mr Johnson has said he has no regrets about publishing the letter to President Macron on Twitter. 

While Britain accuses France of failing to stem the flow, France claims that once migrants reach the shores of the channel, it is too late to prevent them crossing.

French police routinely tear up the camps that spring up between Calais and Dunkirk. Evictions at the Grande-Synthe site where evictions took place today have been raking place in a steady stream over the last few weeks, according to one charity worker.

The migrants are typically transported to holding centres scattered across the country where they are encouraged to file for asylum, though many quickly make their way back to the Channel coast.

Hussein Hamid, 25, an Iranian Kurd, said it was the second time he had been evicted. On the first occasion, he was bussed to Lyon 500 miles to the south.

Hamid tried to leave the camp swiftly by foot, carrying a backpack, but said the police had blocked any way out.

An Iraqi Kurd told Reuters by text message that he was hiding nearby while the police conducted their operation.

‘I’ll come back if the don’t find me,’ he said, requesting anonymity to avoid police reprisals.

The report on Mr Macron’s fiery comments in Zagreb comes as Mr Johnson stepped up lobbying efforts on Tuesday for a returns agreement with Europe as a way to stem the flow of small boats crossing the Channel. 

In a meeting with his Belgian counterpart, the PM pushed for the creation of a UK-European Union returns agreement for failed asylum seekers in a bid to crackdown on people smuggling in the wake of dozens dying while attempting to cross the strait last week.

Downing Street, in its account of a video call on Tuesday with Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo, said Mr Johnson ‘stressed the importance of breaking the business model of people traffickers by establishing a UK-EU returns agreement and using all the modern technology at our disposal’.

A No 10 spokeswoman added: ‘The leaders agreed that recent tragic incidents underscore the need to make urgent progress in this area.

‘The Prime Minister reaffirmed the UK’s desire to work together with Belgium and other European partners to achieve this, and the leaders agreed their respective ministers should meet soon to progress this work.’

It comes after France said it would put forward proposals for tackling the Channel migrant crisis, with the country’s interior minister suggesting talks with the UK could resume following a diplomatic spat.

Gerald Darmanin has said prime minister Jean Castex will be writing to Mr Johnson on Tuesday with proposals for a ‘balanced agreement’ between the UK and the EU.

Downing Street has continued to insist a returns agreement, as set out by Mr Johnson in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron last week that infuriated Paris, would be the ‘single biggest deterrent’ to migrants attempting the sea journey.

A returns agreement with the European Union would allow the UK to send people back to the member state where their journey had originated from, such as France or elsewhere, if their asylum claims are rejected after arriving in Britain.

London pushed for such an agreement during the Brexit talks but Brussels turned the offer down.

The option is likely to be argued for again by the UK Government should talks with France and other European nations about the migrant issue resume.

Mr Darmanin has said discussions could take place ‘very quickly’ if the British are prepared to enter negotiations in a ‘serious spirit’.

A Government source said it appeared to be a ‘positive’ move after the diplomatic row which erupted following the capsize of a migrant boat with the loss of 27 lives on Wednesday.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Mr Johnson angered the Elysee Palace when he posted a letter on Twitter calling for joint patrols on French beaches and the return to France of migrants who succeed in making the dangerous Channel crossing.

Mr Macron said it was not a serious way to negotiate, while Home Secretary Priti Patel was disinvited from a meeting in Calais on Sunday of ministers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to discuss the crisis.

But speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mr Darmanin said the two countries needed to work together to deal with a shared problem.

Mr Darmanin said the proposals by Mr Castex could include ways to open up legal routes to the UK and for asylum seekers and to allow unaccompanied minors to join relatives in Britain.

However he said France could not accept the practice of turning back boats at sea, adding ‘This is a red line for the French government.’