Thread by @timespolitics

Exclusive: Boris Johnson is quietly drawing up plans for a new strategic alliance between Britain and France

It’s expected to include co-operation on nuclear testing, joint carrier strike capability and mutual co-operation in the Indo-Pacific region
thetimes.co.uk/article/time-f…

The move will likely come as a surprise to the many who have witnessed months of barbs and jibes between the two nations over fishing and post-Brexit diplomacy

But the true state of Anglo-French relations is more complicated, and more interdependent, than appearances convey

Boris Johnson has long suspected that Emmanuel Macron would feel compelled to bash Britain to help his re-election campaign, and make Brexit look like a failure


Yet, to his surprise, Macron has strongly refuted this in private meetings

One advisor involved in these discussions said the idea was that Britain and France would “rediscover their strategic agency” at a time when the US is less proactive on the world stage and the White House is already preoccupied with midterm elections next year

Johnson’s senior advisers want this to go beyond a simple “patching up” of relations

“Business as usual plus” might, for example, see Britain do more to help the French militarily in the Sahel region of Africa

However, these plans have been scuppered somewhat by a dramatic escalation of hostilities between the two countries over fishing licences and what officials see as a French-inspired draconian interpretation of the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland

Macron’s choice to question the effectiveness and safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine last year, and Britain’s actions over the Aukus defence pact, have only added to tensions – as did Johnsons’s cod French retort: “Donnez-moi un break”

This culminated on the eve of Cop26, when Macron suggested to the Financial Times that Britain’s behaviour over fish and Brexit meant it had a “credibility” problem as a broker of international deals

Behind the scenes, however, some of the French, including Macron himself, began to realise things had gone too far

Since then, tensions have begun to cool

Does the government want Macron to win a second term?

When asked, a senior figure close to the prime minister paused and said: “Yes. Though that’s probably the kiss of death!”

The practical alternative is Michel Barnier, who led the Brexit negotiations for the EU. Officials are amused that after denouncing Brexiteers for years, Barnier has become Eurosceptic to win votes

Johnson has also banned any minister from meeting the two far-right candidates: Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour

A senior No 10 official said: “The PM and Macron…they are the same species. Something tells me it would not be at all implausible to have some sort of significant Anglo-French rapprochement.”
thetimes.co.uk/article/time-f…

"The case for defence collaboration is irresistible; and it’s understandably something that politicians on both sides reach for when they want to show the relationship is about more than fish and boats in the Channel." – Lord Darroch of Kew