Boris Johnson has distanced himself from Liz Truss’s suggestion that “the jury is out” on whether Emmanuel Macron is “friend or foe”. Mr Johnson said he had always enjoyed a good relationship with the French president, describing him as “un tres bon buddy” of Britain.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Ms Truss, who is the favourite to succeed Mr Johnson, made the remark at a Conservative party leadership hustings in Norwich on Thursday evening, telling party members she would judge the French president on his deeds rather than his words. Mr Macron dismissed the foreign secretary’s intervention as a “small mistake” that would not affect the relationship between their countries.
“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 problem,” he said during a visit to Algeria.
“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.”
Lack of judgment
Ms Truss’s allies suggested that she was joking when she made the remark but Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said it demonstrated her lack of judgment.
“At a time when the West must stay united in the face of Russian attempts to divide us, the fact the foreign secretary has chosen to needlessly insult one of our closest allies shows a terrible and worrying lack of judgement,” he said.
“Liz Truss’s decision-making has clearly become clouded by weeks and weeks of playing to the gallery of Tory members rather than focusing on the country.”
Britain’s energy regulator Ofgen announced on Friday that the annual price cap would rise from an average of £1,971 (€2,340) to £3,549 for the period from October to December, an 80 per cent increase. Mr Johnson said it was clear that his successor would have to offer consumers more help to pay the bills.
Former chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, who is battling Ms Truss for the Conservative party leadership, has promised at least £10 billion in extra support for the most vulnerable. But Ms Truss’s campaign said it would be inappropriate for her to spell out what measures she would take before she enters Downing Street.
“Liz will work flat out to deliver long-term energy affordability and security, unleashing more energy by maximising our North Sea oil and gas production — helping keep bills down in the future,” the campaign said in a statement.
