In November 2015, after the Paris attacks, Theresa May said: “Nous sommes solidaires avec vous, nous sommes tous ensemble.” (“We are in solidarity with you, we are all together.”)
But now the Prime Minister might have to brush up her French and take it to a much higher level.
Reuters reports the EU’s lead Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, would like to hold the talks in French, not English (an EU spokeswoman said no official language had been agreed).
As for the Home office? Aucun commentaire.
But on Twitter, British social media users are finding it all très amusant.
EU rep wants the Brexit talks to be conducted in French. Brit demands list shrinks to “une baguette, sil vous plait”https://t.co/m3v4VDhhMQ
— Trajeado (@trajeado) October 21, 2016
I love this. The ultimate slap in the face to Brexit. French IS still the diplomatic language, after all. Bien fait, @MichelBarnier https://t.co/KWcOm18LBH
— Ale (@aliasvaughn) October 21, 2016
Boris speaks excellent French. But hang on, his portfolio explicitly excludes #Brexit. https://t.co/rupbpYI7Q9
— Mark Colvin (@Colvinius) October 21, 2016
@faisalislam @MichelBarnier top trolling
— Cllr Brant (@PaulDBrant) October 21, 2016
In the UK, foreign language teaching has suffered from years of neglect. The government may regret this now . . .