Emmanuel Macron is set to snub Nigel Farage by not meeting him during his state visit to Britain this week, GB News can confirm.
The French President is scheduled to speak to both Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Lib Dem counterpart Sir Ed Davey - but no such meeting is planned with the Reform UK chief.
Farage, meanwhile, has said he has "no idea" if he is due to meet Macron - who will be dining with the King, Queen, Prime Minister and more as part of a packed schedule this week.
The French President and Sir Keir Starmer are said to be pushing to announce a "one-in, one-out" migrant returns deal as the centrepiece of this week's visit.
Emmanuel Macron is set to snub Nigel Farage by not meeting him during his state visit to Britain this week
REUTERS
But with Macron and Farage expected to miss each other, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has poured scorn on the "snub".
"This is an outrageous and deliberate snub," Tice fumed. "Reform is polling higher than all of the other parties, and by denying Nigel a meeting with Macron, the Establishment is shutting its eyes to the lights of the Reform train that is coming.
"If Macron was confident of his handling of the small boats issue, he would happily meet with Nigel."
In the past, Brexit heavyweight Farage has decried Macron for offering "very little in return" for £800million of British taxpayers' cash to stem the flow of small boats.
"Taxpayers' money is being wasted on French police who want the migrants out of their country," Farage spat in 2023.
"We've given Macron £800million in total for very little. People will be angry about this."
However, the pair have met before - with Farage declaring Macron was the EU's "last chance" at a landmark lunch in 2018.
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Farage declared Macron was the EU's 'last chance' at a landmark lunch in 2018
PA
In Strasbourg, where the French President was visiting to hold a debate in the European Parliament about the future of Europe, the duo dined alongside then-Parliament chief Antonio Tajani.
According to the then-MEP Farage, Tajani - now Italy's Deputy PM - introduced him to Macron as the EP's "enfant terrible".
"I was introduced to President Macron by Tajani... as the 'enfant terrible' of the European Parliament and Macron smiled and said 'I know'," Farage said.
"He was very polite and very civil and I have a totally different political philosophy to him and the point that was mused on around the lunch table was the fact that we were both there together, people found quite amusing.
Antonio Tajani introduced Farage to Macron as the European Parliament's 'enfant terrible'
PA
"But I would say having met him and listened to him today he's probably the European Union’s last chance," Farage added.
Prior to the pair's meeting, Farage told The Telegraph that he planned on "ruining" the French premier's lunch.
"Macron obviously doesn't yet understand that the future of Europe will be Eurosceptic. Recent elections in Hungary, Italy and the Czech Republic have shown that the peoples of Europe are sick of Brussels' control and want to take their lawmaking powers back to the nation state," he added.
"Clearly, time to re-evaluate, Mr. Macron."
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