AUKUS “revenge” against French: Boris Johnson

ANTHONY KLAN

The AUKUS security pact — which saw Australia abandon plans to buy French submarines — formed “delicious revenge” against Emmanuel Macron, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly claimed.

London’s The Telegraph newspaper reports that Johnson, in his upcoming memoirs, writes that French President Macron was a “positive nuisance” during Britain’s push to leave the European Union.

“He (Johnson) said he got his revenge by persuading Australia not to buy submarines from the French,” The Telegraph writes.

“He said he managed to get (US) President Biden to agree to sign a secret defence deal with Australia at the G7 summit in Cornwall in 2021, which meant Canberra would have to pull out of an agreement to buy submarines from the French,” the paper reports.

The paper quotes Johnson from his memoirs: “When we announced the AUKUS pact agreement later they all went predictably tonto in Paris”.

“In great secrecy, we pulled it off,” Johnson reportedly writes.

“When we announced the AUKUS pact agreement later they all went predictably tonto in Paris” – Boris Johnson

Australia had planned to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from France, but in late 2021 then Prime Minister Scott Morrison pulled out of the deal, announcing AUKUS, a three-way security tie-up between Australia, the UK and the US.

Under the deal Australia is to acquire nuclear powered submarines from the US, however the proposal has attracted substantial criticism, including over the proposed price tag and uncertainty around delivery timeframes.

The total cost to Australia of exciting the French submarine deal was reportedly $3.4 billion, including an $830 million penalty for cancelling the deal.

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Boris Johnson. Source: ABC News

Fellow UK newspaper Express, reporting the latest released extracts of Johnson’s upcoming book ‘Unleashed’, says Johnson detailed how he got “delicious revenge” against Macron.

“Mr Johnson details how he saw an opportunity to get his ‘delicious revenge’ on the French at the G7 summit in Cornwall in 2021 by seemingly hijacking their deal with Australia, which would have seen the Aussies purchase advanced nuclear-powered submarines from France,” the newspaper writes.

Johnson reportedly writes:

“The difficulty was that a previous Australian PM had commissioned the French to supply the next-generation submarine but these were proving to be too noisy and easy for an enemy to detect”.

“The new treaty would mean breaking off a massively lucrative submarine deal for the French.

“This would go down exceedingly badly with the Élysée. So the big question was: would Joe Biden be willing to collaborate on a project – no matter how ultimately beneficial to America and the world – if it meant pretty massively cheesing off the French?

“My most important job at Carbis Bay was to organise a discreet three-way meeting – Biden, the Australian Prime Minister Morrison and me – without being rumbled by the French.

“When we announced the AUKUS pact agreement later, they all went predictably tonto in Paris, but all was harmony that night in Carbis Bay”.

Since departing as UK Prime Minister in 2022, Johnson has remained a keen advocate for AUKUS.

“We need AUKUS now more than ever, and we need to go further,” he told an audience in Sydney in December last year.

“We need more AUKUS because the threats are growing, and they’re growing in this region, [and] the world as a whole is becoming a darker and more dangerous place,” he told the Menzies Research Centre’s annual John Howard lecture.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark posts to social media. Source: Twitter/X.

Citing The Telegraph’s article, former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke it raised “serious questions” over the deal.

“If nothing else raises serious questions about the AUKUS military partnership, then these revelations from Boris Johnson about its genesis should,” Clarke posted to social media this afternoon.

“Hard to think of any reason why NZ should associate itself with something so dubious from the outset”.

“Hard to think of any reason why NZ should associate itself with something so dubious from the outset” — Helen Clarke

Johnson suggested Macron had “punished” Britain by allowing refugee boats to leave France for Britain, in return for Britain leaving the EU, The Telegraph writes.

“Although Macron was personally charming, and although we often agreed on important issues, he really meant it when he said that Brexit Britain must be punished,” Johnson reportedly writes.

“On some issues I am afraid I therefore suspected him of being a positive nuisance.

“Take the ‘small boats’ that cross the Channel to Britain from the beaches of France, risking the lives of tens of thousands of migrants.

“It seemed at least possible to me that he was weaponising the problem, Belarus-style, 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.”

“(Macron) would not hesitate to put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain” — Boris Johnson

The Telegraph reports that Johnson writes that he and Macron “personally got on” but that Macron “would not hesitate to put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain”.

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