Gavin Mortimer

Gavin Mortimer

Gavin Mortimer is a British author who lives in Burgundy after many years in Paris. He writes about French politics, terrorism and sport.

Is Macron having a Meloni makeover?

Emmanuel Macron never does anything by chance, so why did he allow himself to be filmed downing a beer in one on Saturday night? The clip, which has gone viral, has angered puritanical progressives. Green MP Sandrine Rousseau has branded Macron’s behaviour ‘toxic masculinity’.  The president of the French Republic slaked his thirst just before

Is Isis preparing to exploit Europe’s open borders?

There is a growing sense of unease in France that a new wave of Islamist terrorism will soon break over Europe. In February, Adel Bakawan, a Franco-Iranian specialist in Islamic extremism, said that the Islamic State is regrouping and is planning a mass casualty attack in ‘Berlin, London or Paris’. This week Thibault de Montbrial, president

Berlusconi was the first leader to glimpse the looming migrant crisis

Silvio Berlusconi should be remembered for more than just his passion for football and sex. He was the first European leader this century to identity illegal immigration as an existential threat to the stability and cohesion of the continent.   Ironically, the former Italian prime minister’s infamous ‘Bunga-Bunga’ parties reportedly owed their name to a joke

The betrayal of Annecy

The Green mayor of Annecy, François Astorg, declared a fortnight ago that his town in the south-east of France was ‘a land of resistance against fascism, a land of solidarity, a refugee town for those fleeing war, misery and the unhappiness in the world’.   On Thursday, Astorg, expressed his ‘immense sadness’ and his ‘anger’ hours after

France comes under attack again

What kind of man walks into a park on a summer’s day and randomly stabs and slashes at toddlers? That is the question France is asking itself today after the latest in a long line of bloody atrocities. The scene of this morning’s attack was in Annecy in south-eastern France, a popular holiday resort. An eye-witness said

The European left’s fascism fantasy

France, Sweden, Italy, Finland and now Spain. The demise of the left in western Europe continues apace and yet their only solution is to seethe about fascists in a make believe world of their own.   Nine months after Giorgia Meloni was elected Prime Minister – remember the hysterical warnings about her being Mussolini in

France’s failure to tackle migration is a warning to the Tories

Perhaps the most illuminating comment made by Nigel Farage during his discussion with Fraser Nelson on Spectator TV earlier this month was when he reflected on the Brexit campaign. ‘I remember being told, by [Daniel] Hannan and Boris Johnson, “no, no, don’t discuss immigration in the referendum”,’ reminisced the former leader of UKIP. ‘”We’ll lose

French sport has been plunged into crisis

The head of the French Olympic Committee has resigned just over a year out from the Games’ opening in Paris. Brigitte Henriques announced her decision at the Games’ committee’s general assembly, the result according to the French media of ‘a year-and-a-half of internal squabbling.’ There was much fanfare when Henriques was nominated to the role

Is a referendum the answer to solving France’s migrant crisis?

Paris has a problem. The city currently houses some 5,000 migrants in hotels, much to the chagrin of the capital’s hoteliers. France’s capital is hosting two major tournaments in the next year: the Rugby World Cup in September and the Olympics next summer. An enduring headache for president Macron is where supporters will stay; hotels

Is Macron losing France’s war on drugs?

The story that dominated much of the French media last week was the vicious assault of a shopkeeper in Amiens. A gang kicked and punched Jean-Baptiste Trogneux outside his chocolate shop in a savage attack that left him bruised and nursing a couple of broken ribs. It was, alas, an all too common incident in a

Is Macron finally taking on the cult of net zero?

Hell hath no fury like an environmentalist scorned and Emmanuel Macron has felt a wave of green wrath since his declaration last week that France has gone far enough in pursuit of net zero. ‘We are ahead, in regulatory terms, of the Americans, the Chinese and of any other power in the world,’ said Macron in

Unrest is growing in Macron’s febrile France

Across Europe the numbers are soaring. In Britain, net migration figures are expected to near one million when the figures are released later this month; in Germany, there have been 101,981 asylum applications so far this year, an increase of 78 per cent on the same period in 2022.   2022 was a record year

Macron remains in denial over Europe’s migrant crisis

Tuesday was ‘Europe Day’, or as the European Union proclaimed on its website, the occasion to ‘celebrate peace and unity’ and give thanks to Robert Schuman. It was the French statesman’s declaration on 9 May 1950 that put in place the framework ‘for a new form of political cooperation in Europe’.  No leader in Europe

Was Pim Fortuyn the true Brexit trailblazer?

Twenty-one years ago this week, Pim Fortuyn was being talked of as a future prime minister of Holland. The general election was a week away, and the man described by the Observer as the ‘Gay Mr Right’ had the coalition centre-left government running scared. Everyone from the BBC to the Daily Telegraph to the New

Macron, not Meloni, is to blame for Europe’s migrant crisis

France and Germany have fallen out again after the French interior minister Gérald Darmanin accused Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni of incompetence in her handling of the migrant crisis. In response, Itay’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, has cancelled a meeting in Paris scheduled for today and he is demanding an apology from Darmanin for his ‘vulgar insults’.

Does the UN want to defund the French police?

My first instinct was to check the date: was it actually April 1st on Monday? On realising there was no mistake the second reaction was one of wonderment that anyone still takes the United Nations seriously.  The once respected organisation held its Universal Periodic Review in Geneva on Monday, and France didn’t fare well.  

Marine Le Pen is revelling in the mayhem of Macron

It is almost six years to the day since Marine Le Pen went head to head with Emmanuel Macron in a live television debate that came to be seen as the defining moment of the 2017 French presidential campaign. It did not end well for the leader of the National Front, the party she has

France’s crackdown on illegal immigrants comes unstuck

In the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, France is getting tough on illegal immigrants. Authorities launched Operation Wuambushu (Take Back) on Monday, with police sent into the shanty towns to remove those there illegally and demolish their settlements. Around half of Mayotte’s population are foreign, mostly illegal immigrants from Comoros, 45 miles to the north-west. But

Can Meloni and Sunak unite to tackle Europe’s migrant crisis?

The number keep rising. Italy’s Interior Ministry announced at the weekend that 35,085 migrants have arrived on their shores this year, an increase of 27,000 on the same period in 2022. In England meanwhile, 497 migrants landed on the Kent coast on Saturday, a new daily record for crossings.  So the Italian prime minister Giorgia