Mr Sarkozy....Please place your fondue set where the sun does not shine
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:23 pm
RICHARD KAY: French insult Gordon Brown - over a fondue! | Mail Online
As Gordon Brown aims to rekindle the 'special relationship' over lunch with Barack Obama at the White House today, it is to be hoped he is treated with more consideration than was the case when he and his wife Sarah dined at the home of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In an unsavoury and extraordinary postscript to the dinner, one of his fellow guests - a senior French official - has been making fun of the Prime Minister's difficulty with food laid on by Sarkozy's pop star wife Carla Bruni.
The dish was a Savoyard fondue, a bubbling hot pot of melting cheese and wine which is consumed by dipping pieces of bread into it - and which is never easy to eat.
Gordon Brown and wife Sarah (left) greet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni in London last year. At a later dinner the four shared in Paris, Brown found Bruni's fondue quite a struggle
For Mr Brown, who is blind in one eye and with reduced vision in the other which affects his hand-eye coordination, the meal was something of an ordeal.
But for Francois Perol, one of Sarkozy's closest aides, the occasion, which occured during the Browns' visit to Paris in January when they were guests at Miss Bruni's home near the Bois de Boulogne, has become an opportunity for mirth.
In an outburst that at best could be described as insensitive and at worst a diplomatic gaffe, Perol speaks of his amusement at watching Brown cope with Carla's runny fondue.
The remarks are bound to irritate Downing Street and are potentially embarrassing for Sarkozy, who is already smarting that Mr Brown beat him to the White House.
In an interview to discuss his new job running France's second largest bank, Perol, 45, says: 'The most amusing thing during my time at the Elysee Palace was to see Gordon Brown trying to eat Savoyard fondue chez Carla. It was really worth being there.'
Last night, a friend of Brown's says: 'It shouldn't surprise anyone who knows Gordon. He can't see out of one eye and can only see partially out of the other. So you can imagine how difficult it would be for him to eat something like that. All the same, the remarks are incredibly crass.'
Mr Brown can take a crumb of comfort. Car tyre heiress Carla, 41, has herself been humiliated this week. She failed to receive a single nomination at France's equivalent of the Brit awards and the sales of her albums have plunged.
As Gordon Brown aims to rekindle the 'special relationship' over lunch with Barack Obama at the White House today, it is to be hoped he is treated with more consideration than was the case when he and his wife Sarah dined at the home of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In an unsavoury and extraordinary postscript to the dinner, one of his fellow guests - a senior French official - has been making fun of the Prime Minister's difficulty with food laid on by Sarkozy's pop star wife Carla Bruni.
The dish was a Savoyard fondue, a bubbling hot pot of melting cheese and wine which is consumed by dipping pieces of bread into it - and which is never easy to eat.
Gordon Brown and wife Sarah (left) greet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni in London last year. At a later dinner the four shared in Paris, Brown found Bruni's fondue quite a struggle
For Mr Brown, who is blind in one eye and with reduced vision in the other which affects his hand-eye coordination, the meal was something of an ordeal.
But for Francois Perol, one of Sarkozy's closest aides, the occasion, which occured during the Browns' visit to Paris in January when they were guests at Miss Bruni's home near the Bois de Boulogne, has become an opportunity for mirth.
In an outburst that at best could be described as insensitive and at worst a diplomatic gaffe, Perol speaks of his amusement at watching Brown cope with Carla's runny fondue.
The remarks are bound to irritate Downing Street and are potentially embarrassing for Sarkozy, who is already smarting that Mr Brown beat him to the White House.
In an interview to discuss his new job running France's second largest bank, Perol, 45, says: 'The most amusing thing during my time at the Elysee Palace was to see Gordon Brown trying to eat Savoyard fondue chez Carla. It was really worth being there.'
Last night, a friend of Brown's says: 'It shouldn't surprise anyone who knows Gordon. He can't see out of one eye and can only see partially out of the other. So you can imagine how difficult it would be for him to eat something like that. All the same, the remarks are incredibly crass.'
Mr Brown can take a crumb of comfort. Car tyre heiress Carla, 41, has herself been humiliated this week. She failed to receive a single nomination at France's equivalent of the Brit awards and the sales of her albums have plunged.