What can we expect from the state visit by Macron?

Remarkably, given the geographical closeness and the coincidence of interest, when Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrive in Britain today to be given the full state visit treatment, it will be the first such honour since President and Madame Sarkozy came in 2008.

- SEAN O'GRADY

That such a long gap has grown is obviously due to some difficult years in the interim, caused by the run-up to, and fallout from, the Brexit referendum in 2016. It’s fair to say neither country has fully recovered from the shock, but the old friendship is growing warmer...

Are things warming up?

Mais, oui. There have been obvious improvements that date back to Rishi Sunak’s premiership. Although a Brexiteer, he sought to move away from the childish antagonism displayed by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, his immediate predecessors. Ms Truss infamously refused to say whether Macron was a “friend or foe”, an extraordinary moment which punctured even the French president’s considerable self-esteem. A row about the Aukus (Australia-UK-US) defence pact and the cancellation of an Australian order for a French submarine also soured things. King Charles was invited to Paris for his state visit, while the Windsor Framework on Northern Ireland’s EU border, and the first Anglo-French summit in years, rescued relations to an extent, with Ukraine presenting an opportunity for unity of purpose. But there was more to do...

What’s going well?