The Anglo-French relationship is a case of unrequited love

French citizens are most likely to say they'd support a British exit from the European Union

France should be our closest ally. Sadly, our love seems little rarely returned.

So now we know, as if we didn’t already. Of all our European partner peoples, it is the French who view a Brexit with maximum equanimity, if there is such a concept. While the Germans might fret at the loss of a (relatively) free-market ally, and the Dutch and Nordics feel sentimental about the British, our neighbours across the channel offer only a characteristic Gallic shrug.

This is nothing new. Through the entire 1960s, President Charles de Gaulle famously said “non” to two UK applications for membership of the club, and French presidents have often shown only a lofty disdain for the supposedly small-minded and mean-spirited British, especially Margaret Thatcher, who spent too much of her time asking for “our money back” from Valéry Giscard D’Estaing, and François Mitterrand. Nor did President Chirac show much affection for Tony Blair and his foreign policy.

It is odd, really, given how many of us enjoy French wine and cheeses, drive Peugeots, Renaults and Citroens, enjoy watching PSG play Chelsea, and take our annual holidays in the country.

Since we joined Europe in 1973, no country has so influenced the British way of life, and to such great advantage as the French. We would be most upset to have them leave any club of which we were a member. A case of unrequited affection.