The French government has attracted the ire of Brussels and London, with a targeted campaign to repatriate hundreds of Brits with second homes in Provence, the Dordogne and beyond.
Reacting to mounting political pressure, Paris has been shipping the occasional residents back to Britain, amid claims they have been gentrifying the countryside and patronising the locals a bit.
European Commissioner for Herself, Viviane Reding, made matters worse this week, when she compared the situation to Napoleon’s 1793 evacuation of the British from Toulon.
Her comments fomented post-Trafalgar resentment, prompting a tirade from an improbably-named French minister.
The ousted Brits, returning with a bootful of an absolutely darling white from a little vineyard down the road and a ‘distressed’ antique chest from a chap in the village, were heard to be muttering something about ‘the Algarve.’
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