The relationship between France and the UK has always been tortuous but today the entente seems very far from cordial. Relations between the two countries remain strong in cooperation on international issues and defence, but the issue of asylum seekers crossing the Channel has sparked some undiplomatically harsh words.
Home secretary Priti Patel fired the latest cross-Channel salvo last week, reportedly telling MPs that migrants believed France to be “racist”. Others waded in to accuse France of looking the other way as desperate refugees in inflatable dinghies tried to reach the UK.
Threats of sending in the Royal Navy to return refugees to France, in flagrant breach of international law, have upped the verbal ante.
Sir Peter Ricketts, ambassador to France between 2012 and 2016, understands the issues from both sides. While he believes that the wider day-to-day relationship between the two countries remains strong – particularly on international issues, climate change and security – the increasingly angry rhetoric over Brexit and migrants is not constructive.
The decibel level from London is proving very unhelpful. Some in Britain seem to forget that France has politics as well, and has to consider how these issues will go down with French voters,” Ricketts told the Observer. “This is a real problem. Some Tory MPs at the moment seem to forget that blustering and slogans and incendiary remarks in public aren’t going to work.
“The increase in migrant arrivals is difficult for British politicians to handle. They think France could do more, but I know myself how much effort France has put in, and I don’t think many Tory MPs dealing with this have any idea. They need to tone down the rhetoric and offer a practical package of measures that are also of benefit to the French.”
Ricketts thinks that if Britain came up with a package that included not just money but also acceptance of some unaccompanied minors, a solution could be found: “There is no unilateral solution. This issue is just as sensitive for France,” he said.
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said: “Priti Patel’s words don’t help. To enforce the Dublin Regulation [which states migrants and refugees should seek asylum in the first EU nation they reach], we depend on the goodwill of the French. If there is to be some sort of [post-Brexit] agreement on the Dublin Regulation, we will need the cooperation of France. If you go around insulting people, it doesn’t help. I’m an old-fashioned believer in diplomacy but there’s an inability in the British government to understand this because of a lack of expertise.”
Philippe Marlière, who teaches political science at University College London, is a native of the Calais region. “Relations between the two countries have become more and more polarised, and deteriorated over the years since Brexit, which was a catastrophe for bilateral relations,” he said.
“There are many Anglophiles in France: the UK both interests and fascinates the French. The Anglo-French relationship is not like the old Franco-German couple who stay together because they don’t want to divorce, but like flatmates arguing about whose bit of cheese it is in the fridge. We recognise each other’s strengths in different domains but the French really don’t understand why Britain chose Brexit. To them, it makes no sense.”
Marlière says that the recent drum-beating language from London has been received in France with “incomprehension”.
“They insult us, threaten to send in the military to French waters, which is illegal, and then expect us to help with the growing refugee problem. It’s the sort of arrogance we expect from the French, not the good sense and pragmatism we expect from the British.”
On the wider issue of the damage caused to Anglo-French relations by Brexit, Ricketts added: “This Brexit phase was always going to be difficult. The French viscerally don’t like the way the whole thing has been handled during the transition, and the failure of the British to produce any firm plan and stick to it, so it’s no surprise Macron has been holding out for a hard line.
“They object to the cherry-picking and cake-eating and failure to set down detailed demands or engage in detailed discussions. They find it hard to get on with this government-by-campaign-and-slogan, and have no real understanding of where Britain wants to go with it.”