AU REVOIR!
French retreat as PM vows to protect Jersey
BORIS Johnson yesterday vowed to stand by Jersey after “vindictive and arrogant” actions from France in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
French fishermen had staged a protest, setting off flares as dozens of boats gathered at the island.
Some even entered St Helier’s harbour before retreating to nearby Elizabeth Castle as two Royal Navy warships moved in.
The Prime Minister ordered HMS Tamar and HMS Severn to Jersey on Wednesday night amid fears a fleet of French fishing boats would form a blockade at St Helier.
But the two ships were ordered home last night after the French vessels abandoned their protest just after lunchtime yesterday. The row saw Paris threaten to cut off power to the island, which receives 95 per cent of its electricity from France through three undersea cables.
France also accused Jersey of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.
The threats were yesterday branded “a 19th century way of behaving rather than a 21st century way of behaving”.
But defiant French fishermen have vowed to return. One crewman, known as Popeye, said: “We will go back, and next time it will be war.”
David Sellam, the head of the Normandy-Brittany Sea Authority, said: “We’re ready for war.We can bring Jersey to its knees if necessary.”
Furious British politicians blasted Paris for the latest episode in a series of antiBrexit tantrums.
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Daily Express: “Under the previous arrangements, the French had huge amounts of access.
“They could almost fish anywhere they pleased. I think we should have taken much more control of our fishing. This shows how much they were used to.
“Britain leaving the EU has left them with a lack of money and a lack of pride and you can see that by the way they cannot organise anything. They are incredibly slow and bureaucratic and this has exposed all of that.” The senior Brexiteer said of France and the EU: “They are vindictive. It will go on.They are arrogant.
“They don’t believe anyone should leave the EU and they are furious we have left. And now they won’t let anyone else do it.
“The latest export figures show our exports are up, while exports in France are falling. For all this posturing, they are the ones who are suffering.”
Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told the Daily Express: “Firm leadership works. For once, the Government has done the right thing.
“The fact the French government is prepared to behave like this vindicates our leaving the European Union.”
France has accused the UK of using red tape to limit fishing around Jersey, in breach of the Brexit agreement made with the EU last year.
Mr Johnson yesterday held crisis talks with the island’s leadership – Chief
Minister John Le Fondre, Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham and External Relations Minister Ian Gorst.
The PM pledged his “unequivocal support” to the Island.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Chief Minister updated the Prime Minister on the latest developments with French fishing vessels around Jersey’s coast.
“The PM reiterated his unequivocal support for Jersey and confirmed that the two Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels would remain in place to monitor the situation as a precautionary measure. They agreed to stay in touch as the situation develops.” Mr Johnson had ordered gunships HMS Severn and HMS Tamar to be deployed to Jersey to defend the island following the threat of a French blockade.
The ships could be seen patrolling nearby as the French fishermen protested against the British and Jersey governments.
The two British warships are armed with a 20mm cannon, which can fire 700 rounds a minute at a range of 1,300 yards.
France President Emmanuel Macron responded by sending in the Athos and FS Themis, but they stopped short of entering British waters.
A Government spokeswoman said: “We are pleased that French fishing boats have now left the vicinity of Jersey.
“Given the situation is resolved for now, the Royal Navy vessels will prepare to return to port in the UK.We remain on standby to provide any further assistance Jersey requests. Jersey authorities have a right to regulate fisheries in their waters and we support them.”
Some French fishermen claimed Jersey had been taken over by an “extremist fringe” who want to reduce French fishing access and profit from Brexit.
Lord West, former head of the Royal Navy, said: “You can’t allow the vessels of another country to blockade one of our ports. If they actually did block it, then we would have to do something to unblock it.
“It’s quite extraordinary to make threats of blockading, of cutting off power supplies. That really is rather a 19th century way of behaving rather than a 21st century way of behaving.”
Jersey fisherman Josh Dearing described the scenes as “like an invasion”. He added: “We’re completely unprotected in Jersey. We’ve got nothing except for a few police officers.The French can be hostile.”
MANY of us have a deep affection for the French. Or at least for their superb art, food and wine. So it’s surprising that we’ve had such a fraught relation with our closest continental neighbour over the last thousand years. Whether it’s English archers bringing down French knights, Wellington and Nelson standing up to Napoleon, Churchill’s handling of a difficult De Gaulle, or Macron trashing our Oxford Vaccine, it’s been a rocky ride.
And now our gunboats are securing Jersey against angry French fisherman while Paris threatens to cut off power to the island.Why on earth is the country that should be our greatest friend our longest-standing foe?
In many ways, it can all be blamed on William the Conqueror. Until the Battle of Hastings in 1066, Anglo-Saxon England had been largely separate from continental affairs for several centuries since the Romans left.
The Norman duke believed he had been promised the English throne by King Harold and invaded Sussex to successfully reinforce that claim. By doing so, he ensured a succession of Anglo-French kings felt entitled to rule on both sides of the Channel.
For some time, almost half of France, including the wine-producing region of Bordeaux was ruled by English monarchs. Three of our most famous victories – Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt – were fought to assert that claim.
But what really rankled, beginning that run of national humiliations for France, was that each of those battlefield triumphs was won by lowly English longbowmen bringing down the cream of French chivalry. French knights crashing into mud at the feet of English yeomanry was not a good look for a country that desired control overWestern Europe.
England becoming a Protestant nation did not help either, as France was champion of the Catholic faith.
When Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to usurp the English crown from King George II, his Scottish clansmen were backed by French soldiers at the battle of Culloden.
In fact, French soldiers were placed at the rear with orders to shoot any Highlanders faltering in front of the British red line. So the 1745
Jacobite rising was a
French-sponsored assault on the English throne, not a stirring of Scots nationalism. One of the greatest threats to our freedom came in the form of French dictator Napoleon. Having conquered most of continental Europe, he wanted to teach our “nation of shopkeepers” – his phrase – a lesson. He imposed a strict economic embargo on Britain, forcing us to help the Spanish overthrow French dominion in the PeninsularWar.
The Duke of Wellington won his spurs here and, having faced down French troops many times, he was in a brilliant position to deal the final blow to Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. Many in France still venerate Napoleon – as
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Emmanuel Macron showed in his commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Bonaparte’s death this week – so that doesn’t exactly endear us. Even during the reign of Queen Victoria, when the Royal Navy ruled the waves, we still feared French invasion and so-called Palmerston fortresses are still dotted along our southern coast.
Worse was to come in the 20th century when France emerged from the First World War a fatally wounded nation. By the time Hitler directed German forces once more against them, they were in no fit state militarily or psychologically to resist the blitzkrieg onslaught of 1940.
The Free French under General Charles De Gaulle fled to Britain. But rather than being grateful for their refuge, De Gaulle proved a prickly and difficult ally. While in public, Churchill praised “his gallant band”, his irritation was revealed in a letter to King George VI. “De Gaulle is hostile to this country,” he wrote, explaining his “inso