Chirac is a 'racist creep'
2005-07-05 13:03
London - British newspapers on Tuesday condemned French President Jacques Chirac as a "nasty, petty racist creep" and someone who "has lost his marbles" amid reports he scoffed at British food.
Chirac reportedly said British cuisine was the worst in the world after Finland's and joked "the only thing they have done for European agriculture is 'mad cow'" at a French-German-Russian summit on Sunday in Russia.
The Daily Telegraph ran an editorial under the headline: "Tut, tut, Mr Chirac".
It said: "Jacques Chirac, the embattled president of France, seems to have gone a little off his rocker."
Chirac's reported comments, which French officials had not denied, came at a time when he was embroiled in a battle with Britain about the European Union budget and was troubled at home over the rejection of the EU constitution.
Modern farming methods
It said Chirac "seems to have forgotten all his history", adding that Britain was the country that first developed modern farming methods such as the drainage of wetlands and crop rotation.
"The sooner that France's farmers catch on to the efficient methods of food production discovered in Britain more than 300 years ago, the sooner the curtain can come down on the corrupt farce of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)."
Britain said it would negotiate over French demands to give up its annual EU rebate if Europe overhauled its budget, including the eventual elimination of the CAP, whose subsidies benefit French farmers the most in Europe.
'London overtook Paris'
It then took issue with Chirac's reported slight that "one cannot trust people who have such bad cuisine".
The Daily Telegraph said: "Again, Mr Chirac is lagging behind the times. Even the most chauvinistic French chefs now acknowledge that London overtook Paris long ago as the culinary capital of Europe."
An editorial in the Daily Express ran with the headline "Give Chirac humble pie" and then began with "Has President Jacques Chirac completely lost his marbles?"
It said Chirac acted in a "colossal fit of pique" because he could not forgive Prime Minister Tony Blair for refusing to yield to French demands on Britain's rebate from the EU and now hoped Paris beat London in the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
Hope for Chirac to 'remember his manners'
It said: "He is an international statesman and should behave as such."
It hoped Chirac would have "remembered his manners" on Wednesday evening when he was guest of Queen Elizabeth II at a dinner she was hosting for a group of eight leaders in Gleneagles, Scotland.
It said: "As for her majesty, it would be quite understandable if she were tempted to reply to his rudeness with a plate of beans on toast. On his head."
Britain's biggest selling newspaper, The Sun, commented that Chirac "plumbs a new depth".
It said: "His snide attacks on Britain expose him once and for all as a nasty, petty, racist creep."