10m
22 Aug 2019

Macron warns Johnson that Irish backstop is ‘indispensable’

Now on the face of it – there were all the signs of an Entente Cordiale between Boris Johnson and the French President Emmanuel Macron as the pair met in Paris for talks on Brexit – with smiles, handshakes and jokes about Mr Johnson putting his feet up on the Elysee furniture.

But behind all that bonhomie – a stern line from Mr Macron – who warned the Irish backstop was “indispensable” – telling the PM to set out his alternatives to the mechanism as soon as possible.