News / Foreign Policy

Home Secretary Patel insinuates French are ‘racist’

Sunday, 16 August 2020 3:57 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 16 August 2020 3:58 PM ]

In recent months Priti Patel has been at the center of deteriorating Anglo-French relations

At a time of heightened Anglo-French tensions over the flow of migrants across the English Channel, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has poured fuel on the fire by appearing to insinuate the French are more “racist” than the British.

Patel is reported to have made the comments in a conference call with more than 40 Tory MPs.

Patel allegedly told the dozens of Tory MPs that migrants coming to the UK illegally – via small boats across the English Channel – claim France is a “racist” country where they run the risk of “torture”.

The Sunday Times quotes one MP present at the conference call as claiming that Patel had said migrants are coming to Britain because France is “racist”.

Another MP told the Sunday Times: "She was calling them [the French] racist and she is right".

"They are more racist than us", the same MP added.

Patel’s allegedly incendiary comments risk inflaming already strained Anglo-French relations over both sides’ failure to stem the flow of illegal and potentially dangerous migrant crossings across the Channel.

UK blames France as cross-Channel migrant ‘crisis’ intensifies

The intensification of cross-Channel illegal migration is placing a severe strain on Anglo-French relations.

The situation has deteriorated to the point that the Home Office has requested assistance from the British military – the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force – to intervene by deterring migrants and the smuggling networks behind them.