There was much to admire in President Macron’s speech to the UK Parliament. History, dignity, humour and an earnest appeal to the values that undergird our fracturing world order. He spoke of liberty, sovereignty and cooperation – words that resonate across centuries. Splendid.
But beneath his theatrical warmth and borrowed grandeur laid a deeper irony: the aspiring revolutionaries today are not French. They are British. And they are in Government, surrendering our interests for little or nothing. Paying even.
As I told journalist Latika Bourke,
President Macron made a skilful and warm speech, but then the PM just gave him all he wanted. Alas that these warm sentiments were not the hallmark of the entire process.
NI will be a running sore until our own law prevails in all parts of our own country. But soon we will be back to no deal Brexit. In 5 years when the agreement is reviewed, a non-Labour PM will pull out of the fisheries deal, and that will collapse most economic cooperation. This is the importance of fisheries to France.
Alas this warmth will not last.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Fighting for a Free Future with Steve Baker to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
