French cabinet ministers tell Britain: our economy is bigger than yours

French politics descended to the level of the school playground as two cabinet ministers and a senior bank official were reduced to shouting names at Britain from across the Channel.

Having sidelined Britain over a new treaty designed to save the crisis-hit eurozone a week ago, the French launched an ours-is-bigger-than-yours row over the state of each country’s economy.

The extraordinary Entente Discordiale saw France’s fresh-faced finance minister, François Baroin, 46, complain that it was not fair that the American credit ratings agencies should be threatening France’s triple-A listing.

“The economic situation in the United Kingdom is very worrying,” Baroin said. “One would rather be French than British at the moment.”

He added that Britain was in “a difficult economic situation … with a deficit level equivalent to that of Greece”.

His words were echoed by the normally anglophile prime minister, François Fillon, who put in the boot in during a visit to Brazil.

“Our British friends have a higher deficit and debt [than us] but it seems the ratings agencies have not yet noticed.”

Christian Noyer, the head of the Bank of France, also joined the fray, coming right out with the suggestion that before reducing France’s AAA rating, the agencies should hit Britain.

“The United Kingdom has more deficits, just as much debt, more inflation and less growth than we have,” he said in an interview with Le Telegramme newspaper.

In turning on the neighbours, French newspapers suggested the government was trying to deflect attention from the anticipated loss of France’s coveted AAA rating, which the opposition Socialist party warned would be “cataclysmic”.

“Franco-British relations become even more strained,” reported the right-of-centre Le Figaro.