Emmanuel Macron has responded after Liz Truss refused to say if he was a “friend or foe” through the penultimate Conservative management hustings on Thursday.
Asked if Mr Macron, the French president and chief of the UK’s closest neighbour, was a “friend or foe”, the Conservative management race frontrunner replied: “The jury is out.”
She added: “If I become prime minister, I will judge him on deeds, not words.”
Responding to the international secretary’s touch upon Friday morning, the French president quipped: “The United Kingdom is a friendly nation, regardless of its leaders, sometimes in spite of its leaders.”
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The relationship between the UK and France has suffered since Brexit, with the 2 sides rowing on points resembling fishing and migration.
Labour warned that Ms Truss’s remark, which may very well be seen to threat straining tensions with France, confirmed a “terrible and worrying lack of judgment”.
But on Friday morning, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi defended Ms Truss’s remarks.
“It was clearly said as a light-hearted comment with a touch of humour,” he stated.
“We like people to judge us on our actions, on our deeds, not words. And I think it is right that we also hold our allies to that very high standard.”
When requested the identical query, management rival Rishi Sunak replied immediately that President Macron was a “friend”.
He has beforehand stated he desires to reset the UK’s relationship with Europe if he wins the race to succeed Boris Johnson.
Meanwhile, the PM described President Macron as a “tres bon buddy” of the UK when requested about Ms Truss’s feedback.
“I think I’ve always had very good relations with Emmanuel Macron. Emmanuel Macron est un tres bon buddy de notre pays,” Mr Johnson informed reporters.
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 superb relations with him and I can inform you one thing: he is a terrific, nice fan of our nation.”
He continued: “And there have been a lot of chuckles round it. Liz and I each know that France is a strategic ally in defence, cyber, in our battle effort in serving to Ukraine, all this stuff we work very carefully collectively.
“We like to be held by our allies on our actions and our deeds, not words, as we have done in Ukraine. Liz has led that effort in facing down Putin and his cronies and sanctioning them and of course, she will continue to do that as prime minister.”
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During the quick-fire questions spherical at Thursday’s hustings, each Tory management candidates have been requested if they’d moderately be caught in a raise with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon or Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer.
Mr Sunak quipped that he would “rather take the stairs”, resulting in a big spherical of laughter from the viewers.
Ms Truss stated she would decide Ms Sturgeon so she will “persuade her to stop being a separatist by the time we got to the ground floor”.
The international secretary beforehand advised she’s going to “ignore” the Scottish chief over her want for one more independence referendum and known as her an “attention seeker”.
It led to a confrontation, with Ms Sturgeon hitting again that Ms Truss requested her how she may get into Vogue once they met briefly final 12 months.
After giving her reply, Ms Truss couldn’t resist making a dig on the Labour chief, saying: “Frankly, being stuck in a lift with Keir Starmer would be extremely boring.”
The opposition chief has beforehand been pressured to defend himself in opposition to accusations he’s too boring to be prime minister, saying “the only thing that is boring is being in opposition”.
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Ms Truss additionally stated Mr Johnson could be a greater prime minister than Mr Sunak after her management rival stated he would favor to see her in Number 10 than the outgoing chief.
Ms Truss is extensively anticipated to win the management contest when the result’s introduced on 5 September.
Mr Sunak stated on Thursday that he is not going to go away politics if he’s defeated however insisted there was nonetheless “everything left to play for”.
Source: information.sky.com”