French have always had chip on shoulder with us

I REFER to the letter from DA Cookson of Groby (“France has shown that it is no longer our ally”, Mailbox, November 30).

He states that due to the recent tragedy at sea, he does not consider France to be allies of Britain.

He gives instances, with which I agree totally, of French police standing by and doing nothing to prevent migrants taking to the sea in an attempt to reach England, all while criminals in France (I would add some unscrupulous Brits to that) have been cashing in on the migrant crossings.

The reason so many risk their lives in a Channel crossing is that the French do not care about them.

Also mentioned is the blocking of ports in France by French fishermen, which delays working lorry drivers going about their lawful business, with no attempt by the police to remove the fishermen.

I didn’t notice French protests when our own fishing industry was decimated .

Mr Cookson says France should be an ally, but they have shown they are not.

I say that while France has its President Macron, aka Petite Napoleon, a man who has a manic hatred of Brexit Britain, nothing will change.

But I would go further than Mr Cookson, inasmuch that I have had nothing but contempt for French governments since the 1982 Falklands war with Argentina, when France, supposedly our European ally, sold Exocet missiles to the Argentines to be used against our ships and planes.

We lost many brave and maimed sailors in that conflict thanks to the French-made missiles.

Never trust a French government. They are totally jealous of Britain’s standing in the world which they fervently believe should be theirs.

James A Hutchinson, Leicester