Nigel Farage and National Rally president Jordan Bardella signed a pact at Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham that their leader vowed would “stop small boats forever.”
The “memorandum of understanding” pledge was revealed as Mr Farage claimed a new “entente cordiale” between the UK and France would be ushered in if Reform UK and National Rally win their next national elections.
Under the agreement, both parties have committed to collaborating on sending migrants back to France.
Referencing early 20th-century accords between the UK and France, the Reform UK leader highlighted the strong ties expected with Mr Bardella’s party if both win their upcoming national elections.
France will hold its next presidential election in April, where National Rally has consistently led opinion polls since March last year.
Mr Bardella described the deal as: “The beginning of the co-operation.”
The French politician, 30, who is a rising star of the French far-right, promisedthat France would no longer be “the gateway for illegal migration into the UK” if National Rally leader Marine Le Pen was elected as France’s president in 2027.
Mr Bardella added: “We must put an end to these deadly routes, we must break the smuggler business model and together we must take control of our borders.”
An audience member called out “Viva le France” as the document was signed.
Addressing delegates after Mr Bardella, Mr Farage declared: “We today are going to begin a genuine new entente cordiale between our parties and our countries.”
He added: “We are about to sign a memorandum of understanding between our two parties, and we hope and believe… where France say they’ll do their upmost to stop all departures and maybe this time, with him as prime minister, they will actually mean it.”
He continued: “We are about to sign a historic document that will stop the boats forever.”
Mr Bardella was widely touted as the potential successor to Le Pen during her embezzlement trial earlier this year. However, he threw his support behind the 2027 presidential favourite after a French appeals court reduced her ban from public office, allowing Le Pen to submit her candidacy.
Speaking at the press conference, Mr Farage also indicated that the body of the first president of France, Napoleon III, could be repatriated to France if he becomes prime minister.
Napoleon III, who was president between 1848 and 1852 and then emperor until 1870, was exiled in the United Kingdom after defeat in the Franco-Prussian war.
He died in 1873 and is buried in St Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough.
Mr Farage hinted there could be legal difficulties, but added: “If they want him, I think they can have him.”
