French fury at Boris Johnson’s ‘double-speak’ in Channel migrant crisis

French police look out over a beach near Wimereux in France (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

France reacted with fury after Boris Johnson publicly called on Paris to take back people who survive the Channel crossing to Britain, as the first victim of the mass casualty was named as a young Kurdish woman from northern Iraq.

A French government spokesman accused the British Prime Minister of “double-speak” as the fallout after a dinghy sank on Wednesday, with the loss of 27 lives, erupted into a full-scale diplomatic row.

A relative identified 21-year-old Mariam Nouri Hamadameen, known to her family as Baran, as one of those who died on what was the deadliest day of a migration crisis that sees vulnerable individuals make the perilous crossing in small boats to flee war, poverty and persecution.

The student was said to have been trying to join her fiance who already lives in Britain, as her cousin urged the British and French governments to help people resettle rather than “force them to take this route of death”.

French police at the coast (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Earlier the French interior ministry announced it was withdrawing an invitation to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to attend a meeting in Calais on Sunday of ministers from key European countries to discuss the crisis.

The French were enraged by Mr Johnson releasing a letter he sent to President Emmanuel Macron setting out his proposals to tackle the issue.

They included joint UK-French patrols by border officials along French beaches to stop boats leaving – a move which Mr Johnson said could begin as early as next week but which Paris has long resisted.

He also called for talks to begin on a bilateral returns agreement, saying it could have “an immediate and significant impact” on the flow of people attempting the crossing.

However, the proposal was dismissed by French government spokesman Gabriel Attal, who said it was “clearly not what we need to solve this problem”.

He said the UK Prime Minister’s letter “doesn’t correspond at all” with discussions Mr Johnson and Mr Macron had when they spoke on Wednesday.

“We are sick of double-speak,” he added.

Mr Macron said Mr Johnson’s decision to post his letter on his Twitter feed suggested he was “not serious”.

“We do not communicate from one leader to another on these issues by tweets and letters that we make public. We are not whistleblowers,” he told a news conference.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps insisted Mr Johnson’s proposals were made in “good faith”, and appealed to the French to reconsider their decision to withdraw the invitation to Ms Patel.

“I think it is really important that we work hand in glove with the French. I don’t think there is anything inflammatory to ask for close co-operation with our nearest neighbours,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

French police at a beach near Wimereux, believed to be used by people trying to get to the UK (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Downing Street sought to play down the row, insisting Mr Johnson’s letter had been written in a “spirit of partnership and co-operation”.

In a statement reported in French media, the interior ministry said the meeting on Sunday would go ahead with interior minister Gerald Darmanin and his counterparts from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany and representatives of the European Commission.

Although the meeting with Ms Patel has been cancelled, the No 10 spokesman said Home Office officials had travelled to France for talks on Friday with French counterparts as planned.

In his letter, the UK Prime Minister said a bilateral returns agreement would be in France’s interest by breaking the business model of criminal gangs running the people-smuggling trade from Normandy.