An occasional series on how Britain is fixing its battered foreign relationships. Today: After the combative Tory years, Keir Starmer is trying to reset the Anglo-French connection. What do we want from France and what does Paris want from us? Britain’s former Ambassador to France Lord Peter Ricketts talks to Ros Taylor about whether Starmer and Macron are natural allies, the damage caused by Brexit, and what France’s “deep unease” with itself means for Britain.

• “I would not have relished being Ambassador to France and having my friends ask ‘Poor Britain, what are you doing?’”

• “By about 2020-21, things were at rock bottom… When Liz Truss was asked ‘France, friend of foe?’ and she replied that the jury was still out.”

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Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Eliza Davis Beard. Audio production by Tom Taylor. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Art by James Parrett. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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Foreign Affairs 🇫🇷 Starmer’s French Correction, with Lord Peter Ricketts