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In doing so I refer to French politicians – not the people of France as a whole. I have many French friends here and in France – most of whom agree that the way in which EU representatives have conducted themselves during the Brexit negotiations, determined, despite their claims to the contrary, to punish this country for quitting the EU and imposing conditions that they know full well would be impossible for any British government to accept, has been shameful. If anything, I am a francophile – and have been ever since as 10-year-old schoolboy. In 1950 I stood with thousands of other children atop the cliffs overlooking Dover harbour, cheering and waving tricolores and union flags to welcome France’s President Auriol as he arrived on a French warship at the start of his state visit to Britain – cementing what was known as the ‘Entente Cordiale’ between our two nations.