Boris Johnson claims French President Macron used migrant boat crisis to undermine UK Brexit moves

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suspected Emmanuel Macron was “weaponising” the small-boats crisis to undermine Brexit.

In his sensational memoir, the former British PM says Mr Macron was determined to give the UK a “punishment beating”.

He added that the French president so concerned by the threat to the EU project that there were “a host of issues where, given the chance, he would not hesitate to put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain”.

Unleashed, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail, details Mr Johnson’s fractious relationship with Mr Macron, who saw Brexit as “a terrible snub to the EU and to his view of the world”.

Despite efforts to win over the president – including offering to build a road bridge across the Channel – Mr Johnson says it became clear he “really meant it when he said Brexit Britain must be punished”.

In an incendiary accusation, he suggests Mr Macron was even prepared to turn a blind eye to the people-smuggling gangs plying their evil trade across the Channel in order to undermine the UK’s efforts to make a success of life outside the EU.

He writes: “It seemed at least possible to me that he was weaponising the (smallboats) problem and discreetly allowing the migrants to come across in sufficient numbers to drive the British public nuts and undermine one of the most important facts of Brexit – that we had taken back control of our borders.”

Mr Johnson insists the two leaders “personally got on” but despite efforts to “ingratiate” himself he found himself “rejected at more or less every turn”.

He records his fury at Mr Macron’s attempts to undermine Britain’s Astra- Zeneca COVID vaccine at a time when the EU had not approved its own vaccine.

And he jokes about achieving a modest retribution at the G7 Summit in Cornwall in 2021 when drank the fine wine Mr Macron had bought for US President Joe Biden.

He got a more substantial revenge by signing the secret AUKUS pact with the US and Australia, which led to the collapse of a deal for France to supply nuclear submarines to Australia – and which sent the French “tonto”.

Extracts in the Daily Mail chronicle the fraught negotiations with the EU as Mr Johnson battled to rewrite a deal pursued by Theresa May, which he dubbed “Brexit in name only”.

He discloses that he was sounded out by the then-Chancellor Philip Hammond about a potential coup against Mrs May after she lost her majority at the 2017 election.

He rejected the idea, deciding he would face a furious political backlash if he went “?in with Phil to tell old grumpy-knickers that her time was up”.

Mr Johnson writes that when he became PM in 2019, Brexit was “stuck”, with Parliament, the courts, his own MPs and EU leaders all working to frustrate efforts to deliver on the vote to leave the EU.

As the pressure built, he describes realising that failure would make him “look ridiculous, nothing but Theresa May in a blond wig – and I would be swept aside in a torrent of public indignation”.

He says Mr Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel “wanted to rope-a-dope us, to see how long I could last. They were in an immensely strong position, and they knew it”.

At one point, Mr Macron demanded the EU retain a “hammer” which would allow the bloc to hit British goods with heavy tariffs unless French trawlers were allowed full access to UK waters.

Mr Johnson writes that domestic rows over his controversial attempt to prorogue Parliament and his decision to boot out 21 pro-Remain MPs from his own party, helped convince EU leaders he “might actually be mad enough” to leave without a deal.