Off the Record

There is nothing like a joint statement between two governments for giving the impression a lot is being done when, in reality, not much is. So it was with the French and UK governments after Home Secretary Amber Rudd and her counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve discussed the migrant camp in Calais.

Both parties, we were told, had “reaffirmed their commitment to closer co-operation”.

The two committed to “working together to strengthen the security of our shared border, to strongly diminish the migratory pressure.”

And on the specific action? In the coming months, they would “continue our close co-operation to resolve the situation in the Calais region by further securing the ports and tunnel.” With so much close co-operation, it is going to be hard to prise the two apart.

As British politicians argue about the merits of the joint border arrangements in Calais, we may have to wait until next year to find out whether they will continue.

With French presidential elections coming up, candidates from the right are pledging to rip up the treaty. Any agreement this week could prove short-lived if, as many expect, there is a change in government in France in 2017.

The Ukip leadership campaign is, rather surprisingly, not exactly providing many moments of drama.

Perhaps the low key tone says something about those vying for the job. Favourite Diane James, who went to school in Kent, is making a virtue of her pledge of not setting out any policy pledges.

In her first 100 days she would “review and up-date” the party’s 2015 general election manifesto.

Not exactly scintillating compared to the provocative stuff Nigel Farage used to come out with.

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