London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – In his book, the ex-British prime minister Boris Johnson describes the French president as a ‘positive nuisance’ during Brexit negotiations.
French President Emmanuel Macron was a “positive nuisance” during harsh Brexit negotiations and wanted to avenge the United Kingdom for exiting the EU, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed. In the latest quotes from his memoir Unleashed due to be issued next month, Johnson stated the French leader saw Brexit as “a terrible snub to the EU and to his view of the world.”
How did Macron allegedly ‘weaponize’ migrant issues?
Johnson claims in the book, being serialized by the Daily Mail newspaper, that Macron attempted to “put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain” over various problems during the protracted divorce discussions. Johnson – who took power in 2019, three years after Britain voted to exit the European Union – expressed that included “weaponizing” the issue of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. “It seemed at least possible to me that he was weaponizing the problem, Belarus-style, and discreetly letting the migrants come across,” Johnson noted.
The former UK leader said that Macron was “personally charming” and the pair “often consented on important matters” but that “he meant it when he expressed that Brexit Britain must be punished.” “On some issues, I am afraid I therefore supposed him of being a positive nuisance.”
How did the AKUS deal impact UK-france relations?
Johnson also describes in the memoir – set for UK publication on October 10 – how he “put French noses poorly out of joint” by consenting to the AUKUS military alliance. The deal for Australia to break an agreement to procure nuclear submarines from France, and instead purchase them from the US and UK, was secretly closed at a 2021 G7 summit in Britain, according to Johnson.
“My most significant job at Carbis Bay was to organize a discreet three-way conference… without being rumbled by the French,” he noted of convening US President Joe Biden and Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. “In great secrecy, we pulled it off,” Johnson said, adding the subsequent announcement meant “they all went predictably tonto in Paris.”