French defence minister ‘postpones’ UK talks as Aukus row deepens

Florence Parly pulls out of meeting with UK counterpart as Paris continues to vent fury over new security pact.

France has pulled out of defence talks with the United Kingdom, the latest escalation of a serious diplomatic row over a new security deal between Britain, the United States and Australia.

French defence chief Florence Parly had been scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting this week in London with her British counterpart, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and address an event held by the Franco-British Council.

But the council’s co-chair Lord Ricketts, a former British national security adviser and ambassador to Paris, said the gathering had been “postponed to a later date”, the BBC reported on Monday.