French president Macron looking to score political points off Scott Morrison

Morrison’s a liar, Macron’s a dreamboat, the jury has reached a verdict, your honour. But don’t be so quick to assume the Frenchman isn’t telling porkies, writes James Morrow.

To hear some people tell it, all world leaders are straight up and down honest folk who say what they mean and mean what they say and who never, ever shade the truth for their own electoral advantage.

Except, of course, for Scott Morrison.

On Monday, Emmanuel Macron’s claim – “I don’t think, I know” – that Morrison lied to him about the fate of the French subs deal was swallowed by many commentators with all the gusto of a first-time tourist tasting their first pain au chocolat.

For them, it fit their fact pattern: Morrison’s a shifty liar, Macron’s a European dreamboat.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and French President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 summit. Picture: Adam Taylor

The jury has reached a verdict, your honour.

But this lets the French off the hook far too easily.

Once you refocus your lens so that it takes in more than the 24 hour news cycle, it becomes clear that the fight over the subs is just the latest chapter in what has literally been centuries of rocky relations between France and the English-speaking world.

The two sides have always been the best of frenemies: Just look at the rocky relations between Churchill and de Gaulle, or France’s pulling out of NATO in a fit of nationalist pique.

You don’t even have to look to the distant past to see what is going on.

Remember, Macron has his own election coming up.

The first round of voting in 2022’s French presidential polls is next April, coincidentally around the time when Australians are also likely to be going to the polls.

And while Morrison’s numbers have taken a bit of a hit, they are nowhere near as dire as Macron’s.

Though he is likely to get through because of the complex nature of France’s polling system, Macron’s personal disapproval rating sits at around 57 per cent.

With the nationalist Marine Le Pen the number two favourite, Macron must surely reckon that standing up for France against the grave insult to French naval prowess delivered by the unsophisticated, uncouth Australians will be a winner at home.

Leader of French far-right party Rassemblement National Marine Le Pen. Picture: Jean-Francois Monier/AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron. Picture: Ludovic Marin/AFP

It’s a wonder he didn’t also tip a bottle of Penfold’s down the sink for the cameras, pronouncing it “Le Coca-Cola Australien.”

In a similar vein Morrison must also be calculating that this whole kerfuffle will play well for him at home, outside the confines of the press gallery and Australian Twitterati whose number one emotion about their country is “embarrassment”.

One would have to go a long way back in Australian history before the phrase, “but he got the French offside!” moved a single vote against a candidate.

Australians by and large endorsed AUKUS almost as soon as it was announced, including a substantial number of Labor voters, making it already something of a wedge.

A Virginia-class attack submarine.

At the same time, in the years since the original deal with France’s Naval Group was announced, the world has changed remarkably.

The Shining Light of Xi Jinping Thought has cast a shadow over the Pacific, and Australians are more concerned about having the best defence possible than ruffling feathers at the Quai d’Orsay.

In 2015, according to the Lowy Institute, just 15 per cent of Australians thought that China was more of a security threat than an economic partner.

Today that number is at 63 per cent – and likely climbing.

Diplomatic niceties are important and it is crucial for Australia to treat its friends well.

But at the moment most of us are more concerned with being able to head off our enemies.