Since Boris gained his 80-strong majority in the Commons, a chasm has opened up between what the French reckoned they would be able to extract from Britain in the post-Brexit EU negotiations and what Emmanuel Macron will now prioritise.
A number of other events have also chastened the French (and Brussels) beyond the election result, such as: Boris’s decision to legislate for no extension to the transition period; the Government’s rejection of Lord’s amendments to the Withdrawal bill; the Chancellor’s message that the nation’s interests come before British business; Washington’s commitment to seal a trade deal with Britain by the end of the year; and London’s decision to begin parallel trade negotiations with the EU and the US, Japan and Australia. The tables have turned. To misquote Macron’s 2017 boast: ‘Britain is back’. We are now a country mile from Le Monde’s excoriating doomsday editorial after Boris won the Conservative party leadership contest.
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