Boris Johnson moves to calm France after furious backlash to AUSUK pact

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Boris Johnson has desperately tried to calm a diplomatic war of words with Paris over the new security pact between the UK, US and Australia, insisting Britain’s ‘love of France is ineradicable’.

Speaking as he flew to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister said the UK and France have a ‘very friendly relationship’, which he described as being of ‘huge importance’.

Mr Johnson said the AUKUS pact is ‘not meant to be exclusionary’ and France should not ‘worry’ about it. 

The deal will see the UK and the US help Australia secure its first ever fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. 

But it has angered Paris because Canberra already had a deal with France to build a fleet of diesel-electric submarines which has now been torn up. 

France accused Australia of a ‘stab in the back’ and the row has now escalated further, with Paris demanding compensation over the scrapping of the contract.

Meanwhile, France’s armed forces minister, Florence Parly, has reportedly cancelled a meeting with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace amid the fallout from the deal.  

The UK is now in damage limitation mode as it seeks to assuage French anger over the defence pact. 

Mr Johnson was asked during the flight to New York whether he was US President Joe Biden’s ‘lap dog’.  

He replied: ‘We are very, very proud of our relationship with France and it is of huge importance to this country.   

‘It is a very friendly relationship – an entente cordial – that goes back a century or more and it absolutely vital for us.

‘Our love of France is ineradicable and what I would say is this AUKUS is not in any way meant to be zero sum.

‘It is not meant to be exclusionary, it is not something I don’t think anyone needs to worry about and particularly not our French friends.’ 

The AUKUS deal will see the three nations share military technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber defence, quantum computing and long-range strike capabilities.

But it is the submarine element of the deal that has prompted the furious reaction from France. 

Canberra has ripped up a deal with Paris worth an estimated £30billion that was struck in 2016 to provide 12 diesel-electric submarines.                 

The decision to walk away from the contract has triggered a diplomatic storm, with President Emmanuel Macron recalling his ambassadors to the US and Australia over the deal – dubbed by the French media as an ‘Indo-Pacific Trafalgar’.  

Gabriel Attal, a spokesman for the French Government, told French TV BFM yesterday that Paris expected compensation to be paid. 

He reportedly said: “Obviously there will be a need for compensation. This is the work that will be done now because we need clarification. 

‘We need to exchange with our partners to see how they intend to leave this contract since there are clauses which have been signed, there is a whole procedure which has been foreseen.’ 

The pact has placed a new strain on the relationship between the UK and France after a series of rows in recent years over Brexit and a number of other issues.

Sources said a scheduled meeting between Ms Parly and Mr Wallace has now been cancelled. 

France claims not to have been consulted by its allies, while Australia says it had made clear to Paris for months its concerns over the contract.

The new pact – called AUKUS – will see America and Britain cooperate to build Australia’s first ever nuclear submarine fleet, comprising at least eight vessels. 

Mr Johnson, Joe Biden and Scott Morrison were careful not to mention Beijing as they announced the new deal but it is understood that the alliance’s purpose is to counter China’s growing aggression – particularly in the South China Sea.

China wasted little time responding to the deal, with foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denouncing the ‘exclusionary bloc’ which he said ‘seriously undermines regional peace and stability and intensifies the arms race.’ 

Paris was also quick to react, with foreign minister Yves Le-Drian complaining it is a ‘stab in the back’ after a $90bn deal for France supply Australia with 12 conventionally-powered submarines was torn up.

Mr Le Drian told France-Info radio: ‘It was really a stab in the back.

‘We built a relationship of trust with Australia, and this trust was betrayed.’  

Meanwhile Mr Borrell, ex-President of the European Parliament, said: ‘This alliance we have only just been made aware and we weren’t even consulted.

‘As high representative for security, I was not aware and I assume that an agreement of such a nature wasn’t just brought together over night. I think it would have been worked on for quite a while.’

He added: ‘We regret not having been informed – not having been part of these talks. We weren’t included, we weren’t part and parcel of this.’

But Defence Secretary Ben Wallace insisted Britain did not ‘go fishing’ for the pact to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia with the US. 

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘I understand France’s disappointment.

‘They had a contract with the Australians for diesel-electrics from 2016 and the Australians have taken this decision that they want to make a change.

‘We didn’t go fishing for that, but as a close ally when the Australians approached us of course we would consider it.

‘I understand France’s frustration about it.’

And Boris Johnson told MPs that the UK’s military relationship with France is ‘rock solid’ and insisted ‘we stand shoulder to shoulder with the French’ despite the row. 

The Prime Minister told the Commons that the new security partnership between London, Washington and Canberra is expected to deliver a much-needed jobs boost to British manufacturers in poorer seaside towns such as Barrow.

Once regarded as ‘England’s Chicago’, Barrow became a Victorian powerhouse as it evolved in the 19th Century from a hamlet into the biggest iron and steel producer in the world.

Nearly 9,000 people are employed at the massive shipyard now owned by BAE Systems, where Britain’s four Vanguard class submarines – which carry the nation’s nuclear deterrent – were built, and where the new Dreadnought class submarine to replace Vanguard is being constructed. 

Mr Johnson suggested that Barrow and Derby, where Rolls Royce has an engineering hub, could benefit from the security deal and it could generate work for ‘decades and decades’ – although final decision are not expected for years. 

The Prime Minister met with his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, and US President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Cornwall in June.

Downing Street confirmed that the three leaders discussed the subs at the meeting.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman added: ‘I wouldn’t say there was one single meeting that did it, this has been something that has been an undertaking of several months, it’s a culmination of that work.’ 

President Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden will speak by telephone in the coming days to discuss the crisis, the French government’s spokesman said on Sunday.