There are few more disconcerting experiences for the British than being love-bombed by the French. Britain’s cross-channel neighbours are usually regarded, rather, as pesky rivals, exasperating partners and irritatingly well tailored to boot. Yet this week France is going out of its way to charm Britain.
Why is France being so nice to Britain? Historic rivals, the two countries have sparred in recent years: over Brexit, submarine sales, small boats and more. Now, by contrast, Britain seems to be keen to return the compliment. Under his successor, Andy Burnham, Mr Macron will on September 3rd become the first EU leader to visit him in Downing Street. The pair will discuss Ukraine, European security and Britain’s ties to the EU. It does not gloss over the high-minded general’s stormy relationship with Churchill. “Betting on De Gaulle seems something of a leap of faith, don’t you think? Anthony Eden, the secretary of state for war, asks the prime minister. The general and the prime minister trade plenty of insults. But they also share moments of mutual understanding, admiration—and a flicker of affection. The French have not forgotten.
London, after all, provided De Gaulle with refuge, offices (4 Carlton Gardens), a microphone (the BBC), backing (most of the time) and legitimacy (which the Americans resisted).
When asked whether Mr Macron was a friend or foe Liz Truss, fleetingly Britain’s prime minister, once said “the jury’s out”. Under Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Macron got a state visit, a banquet at Windsor Castle and a solid partner with whom to build a “coalition of the willing” for Ukraine. Of particular interest for British viewers, the first part, “L’âge de fer”, dwells on De Gaulle’s years in exile in Hampstead, in North London, after the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940. “This is not my first war,” Churchill retorts, adding clinically: “If he fails, we’ll get rid of him. In 2020 Mr Macron awarded London, “totally exceptionally”, the croix de la légion d’honneur, France’s highest honour, as a mark of “eternal gratitude”. London, he said, was “the last bastion of hope when all seemed lost.”
Stubbornly independent-minded, De Gaulle was infuriated by Roosevelt’s post-war plans for American military government of France, kept secret from him. Yet the doctrine of autonomy embodied by De Gaulle finds new resonance now that Mr Trump’s America is threatening to leave Europe to fend for itself. Mr Trump has already helped push Britain and France closer together. The film carries another message too: that the dark forces of nationalism can be beaten. The populist right is on the rise in both countries. Marine Le Pen is the current favourite to win next year’s French presidential election. The historical parallel may be imperfect. But this battle is yet another that Britain and France are in together.
On September 4th Jordan Bardella, her lieutenant, is due to be a guest of Nigel Farage at the Reform party conference in Birmingham.
The film includes the moment Churchill famously told the general gruffly that Britain would always choose America over Europe. Despite the populist-right Reform UK party breathing down his neck, Mr Burnham has said that Britain needs to “be bolder” in getting closer to the EU. The pair co-lead the “coalition of the willing”. Mr Macron likes to urge the French not to cede to the “spirit of defeat”, a nod to a book about the fall of France in 1940 by Marc Bloch, a résistant gunned down by the Gestapo.
Last year the two countries reinforced co-operation over nuclear deterrence.
