Gavin Mortimer has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Emmanuel Macron has lost a friend in Keir Starmer. The French President paid tribute to the outgoing British Prime Minister last week, describing him as a man of ‘dignity, decency and courage’.

When one door closes another one opens, and while Starmer was organising the removal vans, Macron was welcoming Giorgia Meloni to the Côte d’Azur. Last week’s Franco-Italian summit was the first of its kind since 2020; Meloni was elected prime minister two years later.

For Macron, she posed a threat to European ‘values’ because her party had its roots in postwar fascism

For Macron, she posed a threat to European ‘values’ because her party had its roots in postwar fascism

Her victory did not go down well with Macron and his centrist government. France’s prime minister in 2022, Elisabeth Borne, offered no congratulatory words for Meloni on becoming Italy’s first female premier. Instead, she sniffed that ‘in Europe we have values, and that each State must respect these values – the rule of law, human rights, abortion rights’.

For Borne, and Macron, Meloni posed a threat to European ‘values’ because her party, the Brothers of Italy, had its roots in postwar fascism. She was also reviled by Europe’s progressive elite because she dared question their shibboleths on uncontrolled immigration and the ‘LGBT lobby’.

These differences seem to have been patched up, and there were hugs and kisses all round when the pair met last week. The main topic discussed was their shared desire to establish a multinational coalition in Lebanon by the end of this year to replace the United Nations Interim Force. Its mandate expires on 31 December and Macron said a coalition was necessary to ‘strengthen the........

© The Spectator