The leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage, has claimed that Emmanuel Macron is “flexing his muscles”.
According to Farage, a French warship has entered British territorial waters. The former UKIP leader posted a screenshot on his Twitter of the site marinetraffic.com, which showed that there was such a vessel off the coast of Kent.
A French Warship in English waters just a few hours ago. Looks like @EmmanuelMacron is still flexing his muscles? pic.twitter.com/ICR6ytmCWz
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 22, 2020
On Tuesday, the French Government announced a ban on travel from the UK. This was a direct response to the discovery of the newer, more infectious strain of coronavirus in the South-East of England. It has since reversed this decision, following talks with the British Government, on the proviso that everyone passing through the border can provide a recent, negative coronavirus test.
Mr Farage commented to his 1.6 million Twitter followers that President Macron was “flexing his muscles” by ordering a French warship into UK waters. The screenshots he posted indicated that the ship was travelling at 7.2 knots.
France is a fellow NATO member and is in fact one of the closest military allies of the UK. Alongside launching a range of scathing tweets, the former MEP has heavily criticised the Government’s behaviour throughout the Brexit negotiations. He believes that they have made too many concessions, and has called for a No-Deal Brexit on WTO terms on many occasions.
Mr Farage has also recently been in a state of fury over comments by one of President Macron’s “sidekicks”, France’s European Affairs Minister Clément Beaune, on lorry drivers stuck in the crossfire between the two governments.
Farage labelled Beaune “arrogant” and accused him of “hating” the UK. This was in response to Beaune’s comments “boasting” that there was no prospect of food shortages in France due to the blockade. This left Mr Farage “incandescent with rage” and resulted in him demonstrating these feelings in several strongly-worded tweets.