PM’s dad wants to be European
France’s government is casting a favourable light on a bid by the father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to take up French nationality, saying it shows how attached Britons are to the European Union that they are no longer part of.
Reports that Stanley Johnson is seeking to keep a foot in Europe by taking up French citizenship made headlines as his son led Britain’s split from the EU.
Visiting Calais yesterday to inspect how the French port is adjusting post-Brexit, Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune described the citizenship application as ‘‘a wink, or a sign, that lots of British people, in different ways, still love Europe’’.
Johnson, 80, is a former member of the European Parliament who backed remaining in the EU in Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum. However, he expressed support for his son as the prime minister led the UK out of the bloc.
French nationality would give the elder Johnson the automatic rights that other Britons have now lost, including being able to travel and live freely in all of the 27 EU countries.
Stanley Johnson told broadcaster RTL that he was in the process of ‘‘ reclaiming’’ his French identity.
‘‘ It is not a question of becoming French,’’ he said. ‘‘My mother was born in France. Her mother was completely French, as was her grandfather.
‘‘I will always be European. That is certain,’’ he said. ‘‘You cannot tell the English: ‘You are not European.’ Europe is always more than the common market, more than the European Union.’’