“Tony Blair would never have directly attacked the French president on social networks”, ironically Friday, November 26, on franceinfo, the former British Minister for European Affairs Dennis MacShane. After Boris Johnson posted his letter to Emmanuel Macron on Twitter, relations between London and Paris again became strained. According to the former minister, “the fact of organizing a new small quarrel with France can pay off” for the next elections which are announced “very difficult for Boris Johnson”.
franceinfo: Emmanuel Macron believes that Boris Johnson is not behaving seriously. What do you think ?
Dennis MacShane : It is curious to say the least. When I was minister, for eight years, we had real disagreements with President Chirac, on mad cow disease, Iraq, or the common agricultural policy … But Tony Blair would never have directly attacked the French president on issues. social networks. The problem is, Boris Johnson has problems within his party. He promised them a radiant Brexit, with full control and no immigrants, but the reality is more complicated. There is a very difficult by-election for Boris Johnson next month, so having another little feud with France can pay off like it has been 500 years in England.
Has nothing changed since the signing of the Touquet accords in 2003, when you were minister?
If, honestly, the Calais jungle was very different. But there were a lot more illegal immigrants five or ten years ago. Now access to the entire Channel is like a military base. It is very well done by France and England. We should just cooperate rather than search the headlines and attack each other.
How to get out of this Franco-British crisis?
Perhaps by closing its “mouth” … All European countries are affected by mass movements of immigrants. If we turn each movement of these poor people into an internal political crisis, we will never find a solution. We should not try to take advantage of it like Mr. Zemmour and Ms. Le Pen who, a few months before the presidential election in France, promise to stop all immigration. It is not very realistic.