Johnson mentioned Macron was attempting to stoke controversy round AstraZeneca
- Sources say Johnson had a ‘livid’ name with the French President in March 2021
- Macron had angered London by claiming AstraZeneca was ‘quasi-ineffective’
- ‘It was worse than the worst Brexit days,’ a supply advised the Mail concerning the name
Boris Johnson angrily accused Emmanuel Macron of attempting to create controversy across the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine to distract from the EU’s failings through the pandemic.
Diplomatic sources advised the Mail that the previous prime minister held a ‘livid’ dialog with the French president in March 2021 wherein he accused him of attempting to undermine the Anglo-Swedish agency to calm home anger over the gradual tempo of the vaccine rollout within the EU.
Mr Macron had infuriated the British Government and scientific neighborhood the earlier month when he claimed publicly that the AstraZeneca jab was ‘quasi-ineffective’.
Ministers believed he was additionally instrumental in a controversial EU determination in March 2021 to successfully impound 5 million doses of the AZ vaccine at a plant within the Netherlands, stopping their export to the UK.
In public, ministers declined to instantly criticise Mr Macron on the time. But in personal, the then PM – who will give proof to the UK Covid inquiry this week – is alleged to have believed his actions have been endangering lives. A diplomatic supply mentioned Mr Johnson used a telephone name along with his reverse quantity on the top of the difficulty to deal with him.
Boris Johnson angrily accused Emmanuel Macron of attempting to create controversy across the AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021, in line with sources
Johnson had been infuriated when his French counterpart claimed publicly that the AstraZeneca jab was ‘quasi-ineffective
There was one other equally stormy name with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the subject
‘It was most likely the bottom second in UK-EU relations in a long time; it was worse than the worst Brexit days,’ the supply mentioned.
‘Boris was livid about the way in which Macron was behaving. He thought it was irresponsible and he advised him that if he carried on it will have a big value to France’s relationship with the UK.
‘By the top of the dialog he was instantly accusing Macron and the EU of frightening a row about AstraZeneca so as to distract consideration from their very own embarrassing failures over the vaccine rollout.
‘There was one other dialog with (EU chief) Ursula von der Leyen which was if something even worse. The means they behaved over AstraZeneca set again relations for a really very long time.’
The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Mr Johnson was so angered by the EU’s menace to ban the export of AZ vaccines from the Netherlands to the UK that he requested the safety companies to attract up plans for a covert raid to retrieve the doses impounded at a plant in Leiden. The plan was dropped after officers warned it might inflame tensions.
A spokesman for Mr Johnson declined to touch upon the alleged row with Mr Macron.
