When it comes to pomp, Britain and France are still superpowers. The entente
très cordiale has brought out all the plumage of 400 years of professional soldiering – bearskins, ostrich feathers, mink, gold leaf, thorough-bred horses, billowing capes and vibrant
shades of scarlet and blue. Waterloo must have been a hell of a fashion show, before the guns inaugurated spectacle of a different kind.
As Liam Fox explained on the Today programme, this agreement enables two ailing but still ambitious powers to project force overseas beyond their specific territorial interests. They will share aircraft carrier capabilities, nuclear research secrets, and a pool of elite combat forces to be deployed as a rapid a reaction force of brigade strength (roughly 6,000 men, armed to the teeth).
The command structure will be modelled on that which Nato has been operating in the Balkans and Afghanistan, where troops often find themselves under the command of officers of a different nationality.
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