Feedback | 10 May 2003

Comment on with friends like these . . . by Simon Heffer
(03/05/2003)

Could you please inform Simon Heffer, the next time you speak to him, that the French banned British beef as a result of the British Christmas time ban of French turkey a few years previously.

If he cares to research the matter more thoroughly, he may find more reasons for France’s actions towards its neighbour, rather than a presupposed Inferiority complex that is surely an alien concept to anyone but Mr Heffer.
Simon Woodhouse.

‘Dieu et mon droit’, and ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ are two of the sacred mottoes of the British state, but wait, they’re French! So is the emblem of three lions on the England cricket team’s cap or the British Lions jersey, these are lions of the Dukes of Anjou! Outside the Mother of Parliaments stands an equestrian statue of Richard 1, an English hero and yes, a Frenchman! Was Edward VII on to something? Of course he was, and Significantly his own mother was the last English Queen to be crowned Queen of France. After the Napoleonic wars and in the absence of a French monarchyit became rather futile to claim a non-existent throne through one’s inheritance as Duke of Normandy.

For centuries the histories of England/Britain and France have been intertwined at a fundamental level and to deny this is pointless. As close neighbours Britain and France have no alternative but to get on and viewed from a distance, are remarkably similar. More so than say, Germany and Britain.
You criticise France in the 1930’s, but remember from 1935 onwards ‘Appeasement’ was widely accepted as an honourable policy by the entire Conservative party save one. The Germans were seen as oppressed by the Treaty of Versailles, the young Hitler was seen as vigorous and effective and Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax was quoted as wishing to ride through London in a carriage with the King and the Fuhrer.