A CABINET minister said she's “surprised” and “disappointed” at reports French president Emmanuel Macron has branded Boris Johnson a “clown”.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was responding to a suggestion in the French media that Macron privately made disparaging comments about the UK Prime Minister as tensions ran high over the migrant crisis in the Channel.

According to the Times and the Telegraph, satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné reported that Macron called Johnson a “clown” and a “knucklehead”.

The National:

Asked on ITV’s Peston programme about the comments, Coffey said they were “news to me”.

“I’m surprised to hear that. I’m conscious that we have a shared mission in trying to make sure that the people smuggling gangs are really brought to justice,” she said.

When it was put to her that the development was “troubling”, Coffey added: “As I say, I’m surprised to hear that and disappointed, openly. I’m sure that we can continue to try and work together to tackle this. But the Prime Minister wrote formerly to the President last week and… I hope that we’ll get a formal response back.

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“People smugglers, they don’t care if people live or die. They just want their money. And we’ve got to try and work this through, not only between our two shores, but actually tackling this in the first place. And I’ve got confidence that Priti [Patel] is trying to make those inroads right across not just Europe, but also in our more international communications as well.”

The Times reported that a senior UK Government source said: “The Prime Minister continues to be a staunch advocate for the strength of the UK-French relationship.”

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Meanwhile another Tory minister described the reports as “pretty unhelpful”.

Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, business minister George Freeman said: “I think we are into pantomime season, aren’t we? And there is a French election coming.

“It is a pretty unhelpful word. Of course, the Prime Minister isn’t a clown, he is the elected Prime Minister of this country with a very big mandate, leading this country through the pandemic.

“The truth is we are looking to work very closely with France on the border issue, on tackling the problem of European migration at source – which is why we are investing in trying to stabilise countries so people aren’t coming here – and, with France, we need to make sure that people in France aren’t being supplied with boats and being pushed out into the Channel.

“The Home Secretary is working closely with French counterparts on it and the Prime Minister and the UK Government are looking for a sensible conversation with France about it.

“So, I’m confident, actually, that Anglo-French relations are rather better than that quote suggests.”