LONDON — Liz Truss said “the jury is out” on whether French President Emmanuel Macron is Britain’s “friend or foe” at a Conservative leadership campaign event Thursday.
The hot favorite to become Britain’s new prime minister next month vowed to judge Macron by his “deeds not words” in her cross-Channel dealings as leader.
Her comments will only add further tensions to the stormy Anglo-French relationship, which has suffered badly since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016.
Macron has endured a difficult relationship with the current outgoing U.K. prime minister, Boris Johnson, while Truss has been https://www.politico.eu/article/liz-truss-world-prime-minister-united-kingdom/”>heavily criticized in EU capitals for her plans to rewrite parts of the Brexit divorce deal related to trade in Northern Ireland.
Asked directly at a hustings event in Norfolk, England Thursday evening whether Macron was “friend or foe,” Truss replied: “The jury is out. But if I become PM, I’ll hold him to deeds not words.”
Truss’ leadership rival, former U.K. Chancellor Rishi Sunak, described Macron as a “friend.”
Truss is widely expected to win the Conservative leadership contest when the result is announced on September 5, becoming the U.K.’s third female prime minister the following day.
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