How Britain lost its special relationship with the US and why France has taken the UK’s place as Trump’s favoured ally
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the White House last week officially cemented his position as Donald Trump's favoured foreign ally.
It also raised further doubts about the strength of the US-UK special relationship - a key diplomatic bond between the two nations that lasted decades until now.
The three-day state visit saw the Macron and Trump friendship bordering almost on the bizarre - Trump dusted dandruff from Macron's shoulders and gushed his French pal was "perfect".
Macron has previously stated: "We have a very special relationship because both of us are probably the maverick of the systems on both sides."
But there are fears the two world leaders' blossoming friendship could come at a cost to the UK, which has acted as America's number one ally in Europe since WWII.
Laurence Nardon, from the French Institute of International Relations, recently said Paris had benefited from a "departure from the special relationship."
She added: "Theresa May, especially, has not managed to install herself as a privileged interlocutor in Washington.
"Thus an opportunity has opened up for France to establish strong and unique relations with an American leader."
May did visit Trump's White House in January, but personal relations between the pair have been noticeably frosty.
In November last year, she publicly rebuked Trump as "wrong" for retweeting anti-Muslim videos by Britain First's Jayda Fransen.
He responded: "@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!"
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's previous comments about Trump will also not have gone unnoticed by the administration.
In 2015 statements, which have since come back to bite him, the then-Mayor of London, said Trump's comments about London being "radicalised" were "ill-informed" and "complete and utter nonsense".
He added: The only reason I wouldn't visit some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump."
Armida van Rij, a defence policy expert at King's College London, told The Sun Online the burgeoning relationship between France and Macron had been masterminded by Macron.
She said: "They clearly get along, but at the same time Macron is also willing to push back on something he disagrees with. He is serving French interests.
"He believes having the US and therefore by extension President Trump on his side is in the French interest and I think that's what he is doing at the moment."
She added that the US-UK special relationship was undergoing change but expected it to "live beyond this administration".
"It's not a button you can switch off but it's changing, the fundamentals of on which it is based are still the same.
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"There is a key question for Theresa May and Boris Johnson and the rest of the UK government around what is the role the UK wants to play in the world? They also need to formulate foreign policy along with that."
Meanwhile, a current senior administration official recently told that Trump "still reminisces frequently about the dinner the couples had together on the Eiffel Tower. They now have a close personal relationship".
The source added: "The president likes to get Macron's perspective on things. He likes to get his counsel, and his point of view, preferably face to face."
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