Page 10 QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 2019A
t school, one imagines
Emmanuel Macron was
the studious sort that
more unruly pupils con-
demned as a bit of a
dweeb. Swotty, hard-working,
probably rubbish at games.
A typical teacher’s pet, you might say.
It’s a small wonder that he and the
drama teacher got it together.
But these days little Monsieur Clever-
cloggs is desperate to be one of the
cool kids.
Welcoming Boris Johnson to the Elysee
Palace yesterday, he resembled a mildly
creepy stage door Johnny finally meeting
his hero for the first time.
No sooner had Boris’s blacked-out,
drug-dealer chic 4x4 pulled into the sun-
dappled courtyard, there was Le Presi-
dent, bounding down the steps past the
impeccably turned out Republican
Guard to greet his guest with all the
gormless enthusiasm of a two-month-
old border terrier.
Such was the force with which he
grabbed the Prime Minister’s paw that
he almost sent poor Boris tumbling over
backwards. Cr-unch! the resulting hand-
shake and back slapping seemed to go
on for ever.
It was not at all what had been
expected. the President had made some
very dismissive remarks beforehand
about the Irish backstop so we were fully
anticipating le snub.
Instead, the body language between
these two world leaders was warmerthan a saucy Serge Gainsbourg/Jane
Birkin duet.
From Monsieur Macron, bronzed
from his three-week Mediterranean hols
and preening like a cheesy catalogue
model, we then got the usual ‘special
relationship’ pre-amble.
Speaking in French, he reiterated his
disappointment at the UK leaving the
EU. ‘If I had been British I would have
voted to stay,’ he lamented.
He was unhappy, too, at the way France
has been portrayed as the EU’s wet blan-
ket during the Brexit negotiations. ‘I’m
often seen as the toughest in the group,’
he said, staring at his counterpart in the
eye. translation: ‘Stop making me out to
be the bad guy.’
Standing beside him, Boris oozed all
the impatient energy of a small child in
church. the new PM really is the most
frightful fidget. He played with his notes,
he rearranged his hair, he eased himself
up and down on his toes as he gazed sky-
ward. Occasionally, he reached for an
item in his inside pocket which strangely
never seemed to materialise.
this was all partly understandable.Le President does rabbit on a bit.
At one point, as his host continued
warbling, the PM suddenly began jotting
something down in the margin
of his own speech.
A final alteration to his statement?
Possibly. Knowing Boris, it could quite
easily have been some last-minute
entries he wished to add to Downing
Street’s weekly Ocado delivery.
then he was on and the Prime Minister
got straight down to Brexit talk.
He was encouraged by his meeting
with the German Chancellor the night
before, hailing Frau Merkel’s ‘can-do
spirit’, but stressed he was still prepared
to leave without a deal.
Praising British/French co-operation,
he pointed out that just as French-made
buses ply the streets of London, so too
does France’s tGV run on British steel.
‘Not a lot of people know that,’ he
remarked, embarking on one of his off-
script meanders.
‘In fact, er, er, the British ambassador
didn’t know that, er, er, until I just
told him.’ From the watching press
pack there came the usualgoals of maintaining the integrity
of the single market and upholding
the Good Friday Agreement. He
hinted the EU’s negotiator Michel
Barnier could help find an answer
‘without totally reshuffling’ the
deal negotiated by theresa May.
the Prime Minister had travelled
to Paris buoyed by a promise fromMrs Merkel to ‘put our all’ into find-
ing a way through the Brexit dead-
lock. Mr Johnson yesterday heaped
praise on her ‘can-do’ spirit during
his trip to Berlin on Wednesday.
Standing alongside Mr Macron,
he said: ‘I want to be clear to you
Emmanuel, to the French people,that of course I want a deal. I think
that we can get a deal and a good
deal.’ He added: ‘She [Mrs Merkel]
said if we can do this in two years
then we can do this in 30 days and
I admire that “can-do” spirit.’
the German leader yesterday
denied that she had given the UKa strict 30-day deadline and said
she had used the timeframe sym-
bolically to show that a deal could
be thrashed out quickly.
As a result of the German and
French leaders’ comments, the
onus in talks will now shift to Brit-
ish officials who are franticallydevising solutions that can pre-
vent the need for physical infra-
structure on the Irish border.
the Prime Minister yesterday
repeated that technical solutions
are available, but failed to cite pre-
cise proposals being considered.
Both Mr Macron and Mr JohnsonMACRON MAKES
(
UN
French leader
says Brexit deal
CAN be changed
— but only a little
Mildly creepy
monsieur still
desperate to
be one of the
cool kids
HENRY DEEDES
...sees PM receive a weird
but warm welcome in Paris
BATTLE FOR BREXIT
EMMANUEL Macron last night
held out the prospect of changing the
Brexit deal – but warned he will not
allow a ‘total reshuffling’.
the French President echoed the German
Chancellor’s suggestion that the deadlock
over the Irish backstop could potentially be
broken to prevent No Deal.
As he hosted Boris Johnson at the Elysee Pal-
ace yesterday, Mr Macron said: ‘We should
together be able to find something smart within
30 days if there is goodwill on both sides.’ But he
added: ‘We will not find a new withdrawal agree-
ment within 30 days that will be very different
from the existing one.’
the Prime Minister yesterday praised the posi-
tive attitude from the EU’s two most powerful
leaders, saying: ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a
way.’ Mr Johnson now hopes to persuade other
EU chiefs to restart talks – including European
Council president Donald tusk, who he will meet
at the G7 summit this weekend.
But even if negotiations do resume, he faces
a battle convincing other leaders that there
is a technological solution to the Irish borderFrom Mario Ledwith in Paris
and John Stevens in Londonissue, meaning the backstop is not needed. In
other developments:
n It emerged US President Donald trump and
Mr Johnson will agree that a timetable for trade
talks should be drawn up within weeks when
they meet at the G7;
n the value of the pound jumped amid growing
optimism No Deal can be averted;
n the editor of Germany’s most popular tabloid
newspaper predicted Chancellor Angela Merkel
will give in and agree to a series of Brexit side
agreements if there is No Deal;
n Former tory MP Nick Boles demanded that
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn rule out backing a
general election that could lead to the UK leav-
ing the EU without a deal.
Mr Macron, who has taken a hardline stance
throughout the Brexit negotiations, yesterday
played down his reputation as the ‘difficult
leader’ in Europe as he gave Mr Johnson a
warmer welcome than expected.
‘I’ve always been presented as the hard boy in
the group but it’s just that I have always been
clear: A choice was made and we cannot just
ignore it,’ he said. ‘We have to implement a deci-
sion taken by the British people.’
the President suggested the current deal could
be amended as long as it complied with the EU’sFaux pas: Boris Johnson puts
his feet up – after Mr Macron
joked that the table would
make a good footstoolFARAGE
SEE OVERLEAF
There WILL be
bumps in the road