The Foreign Secretary pulled no punches when faced with quick questions from TalkTV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer at the event in Norwich. Asked whether the French president and the leader of the UK’s closest neighbour, Emmanuel Macron, was “friend or foe”, she replied: “The jury is out.” Politics Live: Sunak and Truss go head-to-head in penultimate meetings And he added: “If I become prime minister, I will judge him by actions and not by words.” The relationship between the UK and France has suffered since Brexit, with the two sides at loggerheads over issues such as fisheries and immigration. When asked the same question, leadership rival Rishi Sunak immediately responded that President Macron was a “friend”. Image: French President Emmanuel Macron He has previously said he wants to restore the UK’s relationship with Europe if he wins the race to succeed Mr Johnson. During the round of rapid-fire questions, both candidates were asked whether they would rather stick with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon or Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer. Mr Sunak quipped that he would “rather take the stairs” – leading to a big laugh from the audience. Mrs Truss said she would choose Nicola Sturgeon to “convince her to stop being separatist until we get to the ground floor”. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 0:23 “Better take the stairs” than get stuck in the lift with Starmer It comes after the Foreign Secretary suggested she would “ignore” the Scottish leader over her desire for a new independence referendum and called her an “attention seeker”. It led to a war of words with Ms Sturgeon responding that Ms Truss had asked her how she could get into Vogue when they met briefly last year. After giving her answer, Mrs Truss couldn’t resist taking a dig at the Labor leader, saying: “Honestly, being stuck in a lift with Keir Starmer would be extremely boring.” Read more: Sunak claims he was silenced by negative impact of COVID lockdown Woman confronts health minister over ‘people dying’ waiting for ambulance The opposition leader has previously been forced to defend himself against accusations that he is too boring to be prime minister, saying “the only thing that is boring is being in opposition”. Ms Truss also said Boris Johnson would make a better prime minister than Rishi Sunak, after her leadership rival said he would rather see her in No 10 than the outgoing prime minister. Ms Truss is widely expected to win the leadership contest when the result is announced on September 5. Mr Sunak said today he would not give up politics if defeated, insisting there was still “everything to play for”.
