Resetting Franco-British relations: the cross-channel contract
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
Emmanuel Macron made his state visit to the UK this week – the first EU leader to do so since Brexit. It heralded a reset between France and Britain, dubbed the ‘entente amicale’ by King Charles. Macron and Starmer announced a joint crackdown on migration with a ‘one-in one-out policy’ for asylum seekers and closer cooperation on defence. But it wasn't all hard talk, with much of the limelight focused on a soft-power push: the announcement that the Bayeux Tapestry will be returning to the UK for the first time in more than 900 years. Host George Parker is joined by Stephen Bush, Anna Gross and the FT’s Europe editor Ben Hall to discuss what this ‘entente amicable’ might mean for the UK.
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Presented by George Parker, and produced by Lulu Smyth. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Original music and mix by Breen Turner. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Manuela Saragosa.
Read a transcript of this podcast on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Do not misunderstand me. I'm not going so far as to say that England gave birth to the French Revolution. |
| 0:11.2 | However, I have to confess that we love monarchy, but especially when it's not at home. |
| 0:19.8 | Welcome to Political Fix with me, George Parker. You just heard Emmanuel Macron addressing |
| 0:25.7 | MPs and peers during his state visit this week. The French president arrived on UK |
| 0:30.4 | shores on Monday, sweeping through Westminster and Windsor on the first state visit by the leader |
| 0:35.7 | of an EU country since Brexit. |
| 0:39.0 | Macron's visit spurred a flurry of announcements, including a wanted crackdown on migration, |
| 0:44.2 | closer defence cooperation and the news that the Bayou tapestry will be heading to London for a star |
| 0:49.6 | lone turn at the British Museum, all part of what Macron described as the new Entente Amical. |
| 0:56.6 | What does this special cross-channel relationship mean for the UK and what could go wrong? |
| 1:02.5 | Here to discuss it are my colleagues Anna Gross. Hi Anna. Hi, George. |
| 1:06.3 | Our politics columnist, writer of the Inside Politics newsletter, Stephen Bush. |
| 1:10.4 | Hi, George. |
| 1:11.2 | And from Switzerland, the FTs Europe editor and former Paris correspondent Ben Hall. |
| 1:17.0 | Bonjour, Ben! |
| 1:17.9 | Bonjour, George. |
| 1:21.3 | So let's kick off by talking about the overarching UK relationship with the French. |
| 1:26.5 | Our colleague Jananne Ganesh wrote an excellent column this week about the necessary relationship with the French. Our colleague, Jananne Ganesh, wrote an excellent |
| 1:28.5 | column this week about the necessary relationship between the UK and France. Western Europe's only |
| 1:33.5 | nuclear powers with seats at the UN Security Council and a bit more in common than either side |
| 1:38.8 | would like to admit. Ben, you covered the last state visit by a French president, Nicola Sarkozy, I think it was back in 2008. |
| 1:47.2 | How has the relationship between the two countries evolved since then? |
... |
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