The President of France has hit back at Liz Truss after the Tory leadership frontrunner said the jury was out on whether he was a friend or a foe.
Emmanuel Macron described Britain as an ally and said its people would always be friends of France, despite the occasional error made by its leaders.
“Britain is a friend of France, I don’t doubt that for a second,” he said when asked about the remarks by Ms Truss, who is expected to become Britain’s next prime minister.
“If France and Britain cannot say whether they are friends or enemies…then we are headed for serious problems,” he added.
Earlier the chancellor Nadhim Zahawi defended Ms Truss, calling her comments “light-hearted”.
“It was clearly said as a light-hearted comment with a touch of humour,” Mr Zahawi told broadcasters on Friday.
The Truss ally continued: “And there was lots of chuckles around it. Liz and I both know that France is a strategic ally in defence, cyber, in our war effort in helping Ukraine, all these things we work very closely together.”
