It was presented in the French press as a desperate Theresa May flying to the south of France to enlist the president’s help with Brexit, reports The Guardian.
Fine food and wine served with a dose of politics was on the menu for a private dinner between Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, and May and her husband, Philip, at the 13th-century Fort Brégançon.
As the Mays’ convoy wound its way up the rocky road to the fort, the weather forecast provided an appropriate metaphor: a sunny start to the evening, storms expected later and clouds before sunset.
Macron had travelled to the state summer house on the Mediterranean coast earlier in the day after his last council of ministers in Paris. The Mays arrived from Lake Garda in Italy, where they had been holidaying.
May was counting on a personal approach to persuade Macron to soften EU resistance to her Brexit plan during their “informal” two-hour meeting.
The prime minister, in a dark jacket and grey dress with a necklace of large green and white balls, and Macron, in a long-sleeved shirt and dark tie, sat side by side at a table installed in the interior courtyard of the fort. Their advisers were seated either side of the table. Behind them, a union jack, an EU flag and a French tricolore had been hastily installed.
Footage of the meeting, relayed without sound, showed much nodding by both leaders.