EMMANUEL Macron has warned that the UK and France could be heading for a “serious problem” after Liz Truss was unable to say if she regarded the French president as a friend or a foe.
The diplomatic gaffe from the UK’s top diplomat came during a hustings for the Tory leadership contest on Thursday night.
Ms Truss - who is all but certain to be the country’s next Prime Minister - has been criticised by colleagues and opposition politicians for the remark.
Labour said the comment showed a “terrible and worrying lack of judgment”.
Former Conservative minister Gavin Barwell tweeted: “You would have thought the Foreign Secretary was aware we are in a military alliance with France.”
The jibe came in a quickfire round of questions at the hustings when both candidates were asked whether the French leader was “friend or foe”.
Rishi Sunak said: “Friend.”
Ms Truss replied: “The jury’s out.”
The answer won her loud applause from the party members at the event in Norwich.
“But if I become Prime Minister, I would judge him on deeds, not words,” she added.
There have been tensions between Paris and London in recent years, partly over Brexit and the post-Brexit fishing arrangements, as well as the small boat crossings over the Channel and travel chaos around Dover.
Asked his views on comments during a trip to Algeria, President Macron told FranceInfo: “Listen, it’s never good to lose your bearings too much in life."
🔴🗣 Liz Truss, successeure annoncée de B. Johnson au Royaume-Uni refuse de dire si E. Macron est un ami ou un ennemi ➡️ "Ce n’est jamais bon de ne trop perdre ces repères. Le Royaume-Uni est une nation amie, quel que soit ses dirigeants, parfois malgré ses dirigeants.” pic.twitter.com/XanTkgvx7S
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) August 26, 2022
He added: “If one asks the question – which is how I will answer you – whoever is considered for the leadership in Great Britain I won’t ponder it for a single second, the United Kingdom is a friend of France.
“And you know we live in a complicated world, there are more and more liberals, authoritarian democracies, so there is a sense of imbalance.
“If the French and British are not capable of saying whether we are friends or enemies – the term is not neutral – we are going to have a serious problem.
“So yes of course the British people, the nation which is the United Kingdom, is a friend, strong and allied, whoever its leaders are, and sometimes in spite of the leaders and the small mistakes they can make in their speeches .”
Boris Johnson insisted Mr Macron was a “tres bon buddy” of the UK.
Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre in Surrey, the Prime Minister said: “I think I’ve always had very good relations with Emmanuel Macron. Emmanuel Macron est un tres bon buddy de notre pays.”
He added: “I think the relations between the UK and France are of huge importance. They have been very good for a long time, ever since the Napoleonic era basically, and I think we should celebrate that.
“As for Emmanuel, I’ve had very good relations with him and I can tell you something: he’s a great, great fan of our country.”
Peter Ricketts, a former British ambassador to Paris, said Truss’s comments were ill-judged. “We are at the stage of the Tory leadership contest where the contestants need to start seeing themselves, and behaving, as future leaders of the country,” he said.
“France is our closest defence and security ally. We have a 50-year-old commitment to test our nuclear warheads in France. As Britain’s foreign minister, as its probable future prime minister, to insult the president of France, make a joke, indulge in silly point-scoring for cheap laughs, is just plain irresponsible.”
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