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Brexit: how "the Battle of Jersey" revived French bashing in the British media

2021-05-09T05:36:22.285Z


The tensions observed off British waters have plunged part of the British press into war rhetoric, even mo


Did France and the UK come close to the worst?

This is, without exaggeration, the question that some readers could ask themselves, after having read several front pages of British newspapers, the day after a resurgence of tension between London and Paris, concerning the fishing conditions imposed on French sailors.

The British government dispatched two military patrol boats to its waters on Thursday, then imitated by France.

A measure "strictly preventive", according to London, but which was enough to plunge part of the British press into war rhetoric.

"The Prime Minister sends the Royal Navy to face France in Jersey," reported the very serious Daily Telegraph, suggesting the start of a naval war.

Thursday's Telegraph: “PM sends Navy to face the French in Jersey” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/7FuHsAa3Vz pic.twitter.com/HjVuHraRVe

- BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) May 5, 2021

"Boris Johnson sends gunboats to defend Jersey", had outbid for its part, the Daily Express, opting for a military vocabulary, the term "gunboat" (literal translation of "gunboat") designating warships.

Newspaper headlines: PM 'sends gunboats to Jersey' and 'Navy to face the French'



"Boris sends gunboats to defend Jersey" is the headline in the Daily Express, which says the move came after France threatened to cut off Jersey's electricity supply .. .https: //t.co/fYgh0CAaCc pic.twitter.com/kTiXqeb2lO

- Richmond RADIO FOLLOW US For COMMUNITY News & Gossip (@RichmondRadio) May 5, 2021

The tone is particularly belligerent on the side of the Daily Mail, the second newspaper in number of daily sales in Great Britain.

Because the latter does not hesitate this Friday to draw a parallel between the current frictions and… the Second World War.

"After the arrival of our patrol boats in Jersey, the French fishermen reproduce a familiar maneuver ..." headlines the tabloid, using the expression "Le grand surrender" (in other words "the French surrender").

Friday's @DailyMailUK #MailFrontPages pic.twitter.com/YZFjHoTA4L

- Daily Mail UK (@DailyMailUK) May 6, 2021

“These tabloids take up a very well-known imaginary: that of the Second World War during which the British would have illustrated themselves as heroes, unlike the French who would have capitulated, and who, in a way, continue to surrender. This press reads History particularly biased in order to ridicule their neighbors ”, underlines Maud Michaud, lecturer in British civilization. This caricature, even mocking spirit is still found on the front page of the Daily Star, with a particularly inspired montage. All titled: “Hello, hello! French fishermen are withdrawing after the Brexit battle ”.

Tomorrow's @dailystar #frontpage



'Allo' allo!

french fishermen retreat after Brexit battle



Good moaning, we've sent them packing with their tails between


their logs ...


https://t.co/DZvrHq3njl#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/hhaACP2B4B

- Daily Star (@dailystar) May 6, 2021

If the tabloid press has been virulent, some conservative media have in turn used a form of irony towards their French neighbors.

The BBC thus amused itself by qualifying the French fishermen of “Fisherables”, in reference to the “Miserables” of Victor Hugo.

"The press has often used an antithesis according to which the French (like the Germans for that matter) are their sworn enemies, those they will never be", adds the researcher.

This willingly mocking spirit is nothing new.

The rivalry of the British towards their neighbors would even have become one of the components of their identity at the beginning of the 19th century, along with Protestantism and the defense of free trade, noted the historian Linda Colley in her book “Britannicas: the foundations of the nation ".

The fact remains that this “French bashing” has increased in recent years, favored by an extremely tense political context.

At the top of it: the countless negotiations around Brexit.

“Brocading France has always been part of the popular press business, it's fair game.

But the divorce with Europe has opened the floodgates a little more, ”notes Arnaud Mercier, professor of information-communication at the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas.

A boulevard for conservative ideas

"The image of Emmanuel Macron was thus strongly degraded across the Channel, because many considered him partly responsible for the blocking of negotiations around Brexit", adds the researcher.

Another observation is that the pandemic has not simplified relations between the two powers.

On the contrary, mistrust would have only increased.

“Some titles, such as the DailyMail even suggested that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would have been contaminated by… Michel Barnier, MEP and French of course!

», Recalls Arnaud Mercier.

PODCAST.

Who is Michel Barnier, the former “Mr.

Brexit ”who wants to represent LR in the 2022 presidential election

Thus, to flatter the patriotic reflex of the readers, by discrediting neighboring policies: such seems to be more than ever the niche borrowed in recent years by the tabloid and conservative press, extremely read by the popular classes. "In 2015, the Sun and the Daily Mail accounted for more than 50% of newspaper circulation in Great Britain," says Maud Michaud.

But as touting as it is, this press with readily patriotic accents constitutes a significant stake for the conservative camp. A data that escapes no one, while forty-eight million voters were called on Thursday to renew some 5,000 seats in 143 local assemblies in England. A poll in which the Conservatives hope to gain more local roots. "Some commentators then see behind this fishing episode, which in France remains an epiphenomenon, an attempt to instrumentalize Boris Johnson to show that he is taking

back control

of territorial waters and therefore of the country," notes Arnaud Mercier. British humor, less innocent than it seems?

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-05-09

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