Emmanuel Macron is famous for his bear-hugs with world leaders but he clutches Sir Keir Starmer as a brother in arms.
Gone are the days when Boris Johnson suggested the French should “prenez un grip” and Liz Truss would not say whether she thought the French president was a friend or a foe.
The two men need one another and have every reason to hold the other tight. Macron stormed to power in 2017 with grand ambitions to transform both France and the European Union.
But now – who would have thought it – with his project in crisis and the far Right on the march across the continent, Brexit Britain is a surviving bastion of centre-Left government and Starmer can help Macron rescue his legacy.
Less than four years ago, France was threatening to cut energy supplies to the UK and Jersey amid a bitter row over access to Britain’s fishing waters. Now, Macron and Starmer are together preparing for the return of Donald Trump to the White House and the endgame in Ukraine.
This is the seventh meeting between the two men since Starmer took power. Macron has cultivated a special relationship with the Labour leader.
Back in 2023, he broke with protocol and hosted the then-Opposition leader at the Elysée Palace. Macron probably yearned for the end of Conservative rule in Britain.
Boris Johnson could not resist riling the French. In 2021 he responded to Parisian fury at the Australian-UK-US Aukus military pact – which led to Australia pulling out of a contract for French submarines – by saying “donnez-moi un break”.
During the 2022 Tory leadership contest, Liz Truss said the jury was out when asked whether Macron was a friend or a foe. This did not go down well across the Channel, with the president warning the two nations were “heading towards serious problems” if their peoples could not answer such a question.
Mr Johnson did his best to rescue the situation, describing Macron as a “très bon buddy”. Starmer is unlikely to resort to cod French as he deepens his friendship with his Gallic ally.
He needs Macron’s support as he pushes for a “reset” with the EU that could clear trade obstacles. As ever, there is great potential for rows with France over fishing rights, small boats and Brussel’s demands for freedom of movement for young people.
But with Germany racing towards an election and rocked by the rise of Alternative für Deutschland, Macron needs a strong European partner. And Starmer’s mammoth majority in the House of Commons – which contrasts with the chaos in France’s National Assembly – suggests he will be around for some time.
Macron will remember how Starmer championed a second Brexit referendum in the Corbyn era. The days are long gone when the French president talked of how the UK could “find its place” in a reformed EU, but these men can recognise all they have in common.
The new Trump era means Europe cannot take American military protection for granted. As the conflict in Ukraine enters a critical stage, the two leaders will be desperate to stop Russia claiming a win and then threatening other former Communist states.
Former defence minister UK Tobias Ellwood has high praise for Macron.
“President Macron is a leader with a grasp of geopolitical reality for Europe in a dangerous world,” he said. “Despite Brexit, he knows that the UK cannot be isolationist and needs to step up with allies to retake its place directing our joint response to ever greater threats.
“Too often of late we have looked inward. Macron is an English speaker who understands the bigger picture. So must we.”
But other Conservatives are very wary of Macron.
Ex-security minister Sir John Hayes said: “President Macron is an almost textbook version of a europhile technocratic liberal-Left European leader. He personifies the reason people voted for Brexit.
“He’s decreasingly popular in France and deservedly so. And whilst I appreciate the British prime minister has to deal with whoever is in power in France, as soon as France gets a leader better able to understand and act upon the fears and hopes of the French people the better.
“I wouldn’t advise Keir Starmer to take any lessons from him.”