Jealous French Will Never Be Our True Friends

DESPITE the many shared challenges that confront us – Islamic extremism, climate change, Covid, the refugee crisis and a bullying Russia – the French president, Emmanuel Macron, seems determined to make life as difficult for our post Brexit Britain as he can.

- RT Howard

It has just emerged that, earlier this year, he diverted nearly five million Covid vaccine doses that were meant for us.

This was when Britain’s own vaccine rollout programme had pulled way ahead of the EU’s, provoking jealousy and fury on the Continent and among “Rejoiners”.

Now French officials are threatening to cut cross-Channel energy supplies because their fishermen no longer have unrestricted access to British waters. Those fishermen are also threatening to blockade the Channel Tunnel.

The list goes on.

The French were the driving force behind the troublesome Northern Ireland Protocol and have since been rigid in applying it. And Mr Macron’s new defence deal with Greece, which undermines the cohesion of Nato, is probably a response to the Aukus pact that Britain and the US have struck with Australia, which cancelled its £72billion submarine contract with France as a result.

So what lies behind this outright hostility? Partly, of course, vengeance over our decision to leave the EU. Mr Macron is a committed EU federalist who wants to deter any other member states from following our own independent path.