Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed French President Emmanuel Macron described Northern Ireland as “a different country” to the UK.
The French President is alleged to have said this at the G7 Summit at Carbis Bay, Cornwall in June 2021 during a bilateral meeting with Mr Johnson called to discuss the protocol.
According to Mr Johnson, in his newly released memoirs Unleashed, he raised the issue of regulatory checks across the Irish Sea with Macron during the exchange.
In the book, the former Tory leader lambasted the European Commission over NI Protocol issues.
“They were blocking the movement of bacon, sausages, potted plants, shortbread from Great Britain to Northern Ireland,” he added before describing this as “demented”.
At the time, June 2021, there was a grace period for cold meats and other items from the full implementation of the Protocol.
It was due to end from July and NI businesses feared an increase in paperwork or physical checks of goods.
“Sausages made in GB were in perfect conformity to EU rules,” said Mr Johnson.
After putting this to President Macron, Mr Johnson claims the Frenchman responded with “NI is a different country, it is reasonable to have checks”.
The former PM then reacted with a fury, in his words, he “almost lost it. The whole point of Northern Ireland about Northern Ireland is that is it NOT (Johnson’s emphasis) a different country; it is part of the United Kingdom”.
After asking Macron if he would accept checks on sausages between Paris and Strasbourg, Johnson said he “couldn’t work out if he was muddled or winding me up”.
He also claims the French premier “knew about the sensitivities of Northern Ireland, claiming he would “not hesitate to put his Cuban-heeled bootee in Brexit Britain”.
The French president’s wife Brigitte Macron is 25 years his senior and was also his former teacher.
Queen Elizabeth II allegedly said: “Well she didn’t teach him much history” after Mr Johnson explained the relationship to the late Monarch, according to his book.
