She came. She curtseyed. She conquered.

French ‘première dame’ Carla Bruni has added that extra little bit of glamour to the President “bling bling” Sarkozy’s state visit to the UK. She, in true Jackie O style, has managed to turn what could have been a PR disaster for the President in to a PR coup. However whilst the press have been understandably pre-occupied with Mrs Sarko, I believe that the achievements of the President himself this week have been somewhat overlooked. I have always been vocal in my support and approval for Nicolas Sarkozy, both his politics and his personality, and this visit has further cemented my opinion of him as a capabale and committed statesman. He is a politician of passion and I believe his speech to parliament was nothing short of inspirational.

What Sarkozy lacks for in height he more than compensates for in stature and I sincerely hope that Gordon Brown, or David Cameron for that matter, are taking notes. All in all I think that this state visit reflects particularly well on France, but in a curious way represents a golden oppourtunity for Britain. I see in Sarkozy’s France an oppourtunity for the British to slightly distance themsleves from an unpopular US administration by finding in France a partner on a par with the policy of the United States but lacking the controversy that accompanies it. Whether Gordon Brown siezes the oppurtunity to set himself apart from Blair in terms of foreign policy remains to be seen. After all the talk of change that bumbled from his mouth on the steps of Downing St last June, I see little differences in policy or personal approach. Perhaps he will sieze this oppurtunity and find himself a European partner with whom, in the ever eloquent words of Mrs T, “he can do business”, or perhaps he will let this one slip him by like the Labour leadership of 1994.