Liz Truss has finally returned her verdict on French President Emmanuel Macron, weeks after saying “the jury is out” when asked if he was a friend or foe.
The prime minister was criticised over the comments she made during the Tory leadership race, with Mr Macron hitting back that the UK “is a friendly nation, regardless of its leaders, sometimes in spite of its leaders”.
Ms Truss adopted a different tone as she sought to improve relations ahead of a meeting with Mr Macron in Prague on Thursday.
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Asked if she has decided yet if he is a “friend or foe”, Ms Truss replied: “He is a friend”.
She said: “We’re both very clear the foe is Vladimir Putin, who has through his appalling war in Ukraine threatened freedom and democracy in Europe and pushed up energy prices which we’re now all having to deal with.”
Ms Truss said she will be working closely with Mr Macron to discuss how the UK and France can work together to build nuclear power stations and improve energy security.
Following the meeting, Downing Street said the two leaders “welcomed the quality of the discussions” and look forward to the next steps.
As well as discussing the energy crisis and Ukraine, they agreed to deepen cooperation on illegal migration, including holding an early meeting with officials in Calais.
And they agreed to hold a UK-France summit in France next year “to take forward a renewed bilateral agenda”, Downing Street said.
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‘UK is a friend in spite of its leaders’
‘Not moving closer to Europe’
Ms Truss is in Prague for a meeting with the European Political Community, a summit made of EU and non-EU members that was spearheaded by Mr Macron.
Even as she hailed her French counterpart, Ms Truss has insisted that her trip was not about moving her administration closer to Europe after Brexit.
She said: “What this is about is about working with all of our European partners to challenge Putin’s appalling war in Ukraine, but also to work together on the issues that we all face, huge energy costs, rising inflation and also migration across our continent.”
She denied that her attendance at the meeting, which will include face-to-face talks with her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, signalled any hopes of easing UK-EU trade as a way to boost growth.
“This is not about moving closer to Europe,” she said.
“This is about working with Europe on issues that we both face and both face rising energy costs.
“That is why we’re working with our European neighbours on doing more on the North Sea, on off-shore wind, which I have been talking about today.
“We’re working with our partners on more nuclear energy, so that we’re never in the same position again of being dependent on Russia and Russia using energy as leverage against free democracies.”
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Ms Truss is seeking to use the summit to present the UK as a crucial ally in Europe against authoritarianism and as a staunch backer of Ukraine.
At a plenary session earlier, she spoke to European leaders and pitched the UK as a key Ukrainian ally, referencing the example of Vaclav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic following the collapse of communism.
The trip abroad comes as Ms Truss fights for her political life at home, following a fractious party conference dominated by backbench revolts and a U-turn on a headline budget policy.