Teaser Theresa and a very undiplomatic joke against ‘Jean-Claude Drunker’
THE risk of a diplomatic rift between Theresa May and EU boss Jean-Claude Juncker loomed last night after she joked about his alleged drinking habit.
Asked if he was sober in her first Brexit talks with the European Commission president, the Prime Minister quipped: ‘How could I know? It was on the phone.’
The teasing remark, made last week in private, was a reference to persistent claims about hardline Brexit critic Mr Juncker’s reported fondness for alcohol.
He has denied claims that he ‘drinks cognac’ at breakfast. Last month, video footage emerged which appeared to show him drunk at an EU gathering.
Mrs May’s light-hearted comment came after Mr Juncker chose Frenchman Michel Barnier, a notorious critic of the City of London, to lead the EU negotiating team.
It was seen as Mr Juncker’s way of throwing down the gauntlet to Mrs May by indicating he would take a tough stance in the forthcoming negotiations.
Her jest was made when she was asked at a No10 event if she had spoken to Mr Juncker since becoming Prime Minister.
After explaining she had spoken to him on the phone, she was asked mischievously: ‘Was he sober?’
Quick as a flash, she said it was impossible to tell because they spoke on the phone.
It is the latest in a series of deadpan quips which are gaining Mrs May a reputation for political putdowns as pointed – and elegant – as her stiletto heels.
However, Mr Juncker will be livid at more attention being drawn to his reputation as a drinker.
When he became Commission president in 2014, The Mail on Sunday disclosed how it had been claimed he ‘has cognac for breakfast’, was allegedly ‘blind drunk’, acted in a ‘vulgar’ way and repeat- edly used the F-word in a meeting. A respected German news journal said he had ‘drunk too much for years’ in an article headlined Achtung, Alkoholkontrolle! (Attention, Breathalyser Test!).
And a Dutch politician called him a ‘stubborn drinker’.
The drinking claims, vehemently denied by Mr Juncker, resurfaced last month when video footage emerged which appeared to show him drunk at an EU summit. In the clip, he can be seen repeatedly slapping EU leaders, hopping from foot to foot and dancing – prompting speculation that he was under the influence of alcohol. At the same meeting, he was also reportedly overheard calling the Hungarian prime minister a ‘dictator’.
The claims about his drinking date back nearly a decade. They first surfaced when he was embroiled in a political scandal in his native Luxembourg. A Luxembourg journal claimed he was accused of being drunk and abusive at a meeting with a spy chief. It claimed to have obtained a leaked account of a meeting at his office which said Juncker’s office ‘smelled of stale tobacco and an alarming scent of alcohol was in the air. Half staggering, he stepped out from behind his cluttered desk. Juncker was dead drunk, ordered himself two espresso and asked us to take a seat at the table.’ Mr Juncker has always denied the allegations.
Was he sober on phone? ‘How could I know?’