State trips and economic blips
Updated on 26 March 2008
Inside the morning news meeting...
Top of the news agenda today is Sarkozy's state visit. He has a gruelling schedule for the next two days: laying a wreath at the statue of General de Gaulle and meeting French war veterans this morning, and then on to 10 Downing Street for a chat with the prime minister.
After that he takes part in the UK-France summit and press conference at Emirates Stadium and then on to visit Greenwich. After that he's going to present Dame Ellen MacArthur with the Legion d'Honneur at the Royal Naval College and attend a reception at the French embassy for the French community in Britain and a banquet at the Guildhall hosted by the Lord Mayor.
All this AND visit the Queen at Windsor Castle and address both Houses of Parliament.
But despite his impressive list of obligations, it is not his itinerary, but rather his wife that is gaining his trip the most attention. Former model turned musician Carla Bruni, aka Mrs Sarkozy, will be accompanying the president, along with his mother.
Bruni's record company have not missed the chance to glean a bit of publicity from the visit for her record, as Nick Glass reported last night.
But are we letting the glamorous Bruni distract us from the president's business in Britain? What is the message behind his trip?
In an interview for BBC Radio 4's Today, the French leader expressed admiration for what he described as British importance and dynamism. Will he be drawing on the British example to kick-start the French economy?
And is the British economy something to emulate? Sarkozy's visit coincides with two alarm bells: Mervyn King giving not-so-rosy evidence to the Treasury Select Committee this morning and the UK's financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) admitting it failed to adequately regulate Northern Rock.
Bank of England governor King has warned parliament that the credit crunch is worse than originally thought. He said: "Across the world, confidence in financial markets is fragile. It is not that banks, at least in the UK, have made loans that are likely to result in unsustainable losses."
The FSA meanwhile admitted that there was a "a lack of adequate oversight and review" by the agency of Northern Rock.
