What's going on in France?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

Politics, Daily News, News

4.4 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This morning Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles's State visit to France has been cancelled as the country struggles with nationwide strikes against the government's pension reform. The King was due to visit Paris and Bordeaux, two of the cities which have been hit by the most extreme violence. Will his trip to Germany go ahead as planned?

Also on the podcast, Rishi Sunak has been buoyed by a successful week in which he pulled off his Brexit plan. Will he be able to weather the storm next week when small boats are back on the agenda? Is there a world in which Sunak could pull off an election victory?

James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by Canacord Genuity Wealth Management.
0:03.6	Experience Wealth Managers who go above and beyond to guide and support you.
0:08.0	Kandu is more than just an attitude. It's navigating today for a brighter tomorrow.
0:13.2	Visit KanduWealth.com.
0:19.6	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots. I'm James Heal and I'm joined today by Katie Pauls and
0:23.7	Fraser Nelson. Now in the last few minutes, King Charles announced that he will not be attending
0:28.5	the first day visit planned to Paris on Sunday. Fraser told us through what's happened and
0:33.7	what's changed this decision. Well, the King was due to arrive on Sunday. There was going to be
0:39.1	this lavish dinner planned in Versailles. There were other such big moments of choreography as well.
0:45.0	I mean, Charles and Camilla were going to lay a wreath in the architriumpth and Paris.
0:49.4	Camilla and Bridgette Mechron were due to open the new Manning and Degas exhibition in the
0:55.2	Musee d'Orsay together. Lots of moments of statehood which are absolutely prime for disruption
1:01.7	by the protesters who have turned over the streets of Paris right now. The scenes have been
1:06.8	really quite extraordinary. Yesterday alone, there were 450 people arrested and 400 police and
1:14.0	security officials injured. 14 of them in hospital. And Mechron had this rather confrontational
1:19.6	television address which has sought to inflame situation further. And it was looking likely that
1:26.1	if the King was going to arrive, then every movie made would be a target for serious disruption
1:31.3	by the protesters. There were calls by Mechron's opponents to cancel the dinner in Versailles.
1:36.7	There were even reports in the French press that the Lissi Palace was trying to change venues
1:41.1	to somewhere a bit more secure, like you might have in the G8s. Some of it's where there's
1:45.2	lots of protesters kept at a safe distance. All over, this could have been a disaster for Mechron.
1:51.6	He loves Versailles State dinners. I think Putin was regaled with such a treat by Mechron,
	...

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