
How a clairvoyant sparked ridiculous rumour that Brigitte Macron was born a man which social media fanatics believe IS true... as the French president's wife is once again forced to take legal action
Eight years as the first lady of France have taught Ms Macron the expectations of the job--and how to manage her image in public. Scrutiny follows how she looks, what she says and how she interacts with her husband when in the presidential spotlight.
In her first formal post-election interview in 2017, she gently dismissed a question asking how she felt, as a feminist, about the incessant focus on her clothes: 'If it's good for French fashion, why not?'
But it is difficult to imagine that Ms Macron, despite her careful presentation, was entirely unaffected by the libel case simmering in the background of Monday's Bastille Day parade. Scrutiny of one's public image is one thing. It is entirely another to question who they are.
In the courts, Ms Macron has parried baseless claims by blogger Natacha Rey and self-proclaimed spiritual medium Amandine Roy that she was born a man and transitioned before marrying her husband.
The pair were ordered to pay thousands of euros in damages last year, after their claims went viral and gained traction among conspiracy theorists in the United States. But last week, the Paris appeals court overturned earlier convictions.
Dressed all in white for the Bastille Day celebrations on Monday, Brigitte Macron, undeterred, stood tall at her husband's side as her lawyer revealed she would fight the claims in court once more.
It was three days before Christmas Day, 2021. Most of France was winding down for the holidays. But Mr and Ms Macron were otherwise preoccupied.
Her lawyer announced that she would be launching legal action over the spread of false claims that she is a transgender woman who was born a man.
Jean Ennochi, the lawyer, told Reuters that several individuals were in focus as the claims gained new momentum following the publication of a video on social media on December 10.
The four-hour interview saw a journalist and a self-described medium discuss so-called 'evidence' surrounding claims Ms Macron was born Jean-Michel Trogneux.
They spoke about surgeries she had allegedly undergone, aired pictures of her family, and scrutinised personal information belonging to her brother, the real Jean-Michel Trogneux.
Ms Rey spoke about the 'state lie' and 'scam' they had uncovered, that the first lady of France had transitioned to become Brigitte and then married the president.
She had not. But it did not stop the video being watched nearly 400,000 times and shared across social media as Mr Macron was gearing up for the 2022 presidential election.
Ms Macron's office declined to comment at the time. She broke her silence, instead, three weeks later, after Christmas, as the world started to return to normal.
Speaking to French radio, she said: 'If I do not address it, if I do not do anything after four years of working against bullying, I will not be listened to.'
Brigitte Macron with her daughter Tiphaine Auziere, who spoke out about her mother's history in an interview with Paris Match
Speaking on the RTL radio station - incidentally on her priority of tackling bullying in schools - was the first real opportunity to address the falsehood.
'There are three different elements to this story,' the first lady outlined in her comments to the nation.
'It starts with the originators of the story. In this case, they were women who apparently have been pursuing me for a long time – I don't know, I don't go there [on social networks].
'Then, there are those who share and exaggerate what is being claimed.
'And finally there are, of course, 'the hosts,' she said, referring to the social media platforms themselves.'
In the first camp was Natacha Rey, a journalist who claimed she was investigating Macron. On her Facebook page, there were posts implying that Ms Macron was a man dating back to March 2021.
Matters came to a head in September of that year when she co-authored an ' investigation ' with Xavier Poussard for the far-right newsletter Faits et Documents (facts and documents), which he edited.
The New Statesman observed at the time: 'Its pages, which do not draw heavily on either facts or documents, include one section on 'lobbies', which criticises the supposed influence of various interest groups, such as Jews, Freemasons and homosexuals.'
The story existed for a few months before Ms Rey took it to medium Delphine Jégousse, alias Amandine Roy, for a four-hour interview.
In the video published that December, she claimed to have evidence of the first lady's transition.
She referred to an old Trogneux family photograph, in which Brigitte is seen as a young girl sitting on her mother's knee.
Ms Rey said the girl was probably Nathalie Farcy, who was orphaned when Brigitte's older sister Maryvonne was killed in a car crash.
She identified a boy in a checked shirt as Brigitte, not her brother Jean-Michel, claiming the child later underwent a sex change operation in the 1980s.
The theory falls short; the birth of Brigitte Macron was recorded on April 13, 1953, in the Courrier Picard daily newspaper of the Picardy region of France.
A notice reads: 'Anne-Marie, Jean-Claude, Maryvonne, Monique and Jean-Michel Trogneux have great joy in announcing the arrival of their little sister, Brigitte.'
But the video was seen hundreds of thousands of times before being deleted, and the claims repeated tens of thousands of times on Twitter.
At the same time, Ms Rey created a website with a contact form to address the presidency directly, and called for the bulk sending of messages to 'question Brigitte Macron en masse' about 'her brother Jean-Michel'.
Things moved quickly. Within a month of Ms Macron's radio appearance, the pair were hauled in front of the civil courts for invasion of privacy. A criminal complaint for defamation was also filed by Ms Macron and her brother.
Candace Owens on Tuesday said that she would be willing to bet her career that French President Emmanuel Macron's wife was born a man.
The two women were ultimately found to have defamed Ms Macron by the Paris Criminal Court in September 2024, handed a suspended fine of €500 and ordered to pay a total of €8,000 in damages to Brigitte Macron and €5,000 to her brother.
It had been a long wait for the verdict from the trial in June 2023. Ms Macron was not present for the decision.
But a verdict was not enough to stop the rumours spreading and taking new form.
Originally shared in the United States on sites like notorious disinformation hub 4chan, the claim snowballed when figures 'with very large audiences gave it visibility', doctoral researcher Sophie Chauvet, specialising in audience metrics, told the French AFP news agency.
Prominent conservative commentator Candace Owens attacked the first lady in a now-deleted YouTube video posted in March last year, propagating the false claim.
She cited a 'thorough investigation' by Rey, published in Faits et Documents in 2021.
Why now? Emmanuelle Anizon, a journalist at the French weekly L'Obs, told AFP that the difference was that Xavier Poussard had started translating the newsletter's articles at the end of 2023.
Anizon, who spoke to Poussard and his associate Aurelien Poirson who advised on the translation, explained that it was no accident that the US far right had taken up the false claim ahead of the November US elections.
'It was their dream to export this rumour across the Atlantic,' she said.
Again, the rumour exploded online. Poussard published a 338-page book called Devenir Brigitte ('Becoming Brigitte') to run alongside it.
The falsehoods fail to go away. Last summer, Reuters reported on a photograph of a young male model at a 2009 photoshoot in Russia, posted on social media to more speculation that the boy was, again, Ms Macron.
This had no bearing on the original theory. But it did not seem to matter. Reuters contacted the photographer and revealed the image, of a male model in Moscow, not Ms Macron, had been altered.
In February of this year, a cropped photo of the Trogneux family circulated on social media, prompting fact-checkers at Full Fact to resurrect the story of how the story emerged, was shot down and led to a successful defamation verdict.
'False and misleading posts like this can spread quickly online, so it's important to consider whether what you are seeing comes from a verifiable and reliable source before sharing on social media,' they advised.
Nearly a year has passed, but the fiction still lingers over both the presidency and Ms Macron's personal life.
On Thursday, the Paris appeals court overturned earlier convictions against the two women for spreading the false claim about Brigitte Macron.
Judges sitting at the Paris Appeal Court ruled that Amandine Roy, now 53, and Natacha Rey, 49 and a blogger, had every legal right to make the allegations.
Both had claimed they were subjected to 'intimidation by the authorities' as 'ultra protected' members of the Paris establishment tried to cover up a 'state secret'.
Lawyers for Ms Macron, 72, in turn indicated that she was 'devastated' by the development, and would be taking the case to France's Cassation Court.
As her lawyer relayed her intentions to the press on Monday, Ms Macron stood before the nation for Bastille Day and watched as jets left trails of red, white and blue overhead.
She stood at her husband's side, right hand clasping left, and it was impossible to know what she was thinking.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
European leaders express concerns over new trade deal with US
Update: Date: 2025-07-28T11:09:02.000Z Title: the EU has a new trade deal with the US. Content: Benjamin Haddad, France's Europe minister, says deal will 'bring temporary stability' but is generally 'unbalanced', calling the situation 'not satisfactory' Jakub Krupa Mon 28 Jul 2025 12.09 BST First published on Mon 28 Jul 2025 09.05 BST From 9.05am BST 09:05 Jakub Krupa Good news: Bad news: There don't seem to be many people who think it's a particularly good deal. The framework agreement, agreed by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and US president Donald Trump at a late meeting in Scotland, manages to avert a damaging transatlantic trade war, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods – half the threatened rate. German chancellor Friedrich Merz focused on the fact that it managed to keep the unity of the European Union and offer some stability to businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, even if he would have liked the deal to achieve more. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said she needed to see the details of the deal to assess it further, asking questions about possible exemptions, promises of European investment and gas purchases from the US, and how to help affected industries. French Europe minister Benjamin Haddad said that while the deal would 'bring temporary stability,' it was generally 'unbalanced,' calling the situation 'not satisfactory and … not sustainable.' Not ideal. Global markets responded positively, as you can see on our business live blog, but there is much more to this deal than that. It is not business as usual. Elsewhere, I will be looking at Spain where the country's embattled prime minister Pedro Sánchez is due to give a summer press conference and the latest reports from Ukraine. I will bring you all key updates from across Europe today. It's Monday, 28 July 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning. 12.02pm BST 12:02 Meanwhile over in Madrid, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez is the latest to publicly respond to the EU-US agreement, saying wearily he supports the deal 'without any enthusiasm'. He says that Europe needs to draw lessons from this situation and double down on its plans to achieve strategic autonomy and develop better trade ties with other countries, including the Mercosur bloc. He says the EU needs to diversify its trade relations with other countries, and he supports von der Leyen's ambition to get deals with Indonesia and India. Updated at 12.09pm BST 11.41am BST 11:41 Responding to some criticism coming from the member states, Šefčovič warns them that the world as we knew it before April, and Trump's new trade policy, 'is gone.' He says the EU needs to adjust and a strategic deal with the US is the best possibly option. He repeats that 30% tariffs, the default scenario without the deal, would put companies under dramatic pressure and lead to substantial job losses, potentially eventually putting the EU to negotiate in worse circumstances. This is the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances. Šefčovič adds that the conversation with the US yesterday started with a 30% tariff threat. He adds that the deal was not only about trade, but also about broader security, Ukraine, and joint response to growing geopolitical volatility through keeping the US on side in future talks. 'I'm 100 percent sure that this deal is better than a trade war with the United States,' he says. Updated at 11.56am BST 11.32am BST 11:32 On China, Šefčovič says 'despite the strenuous efforts of my colleagues and myself and several long meetings with my Chinese counterpart,' there are growing trade issues with 'the list of accumulated issues on the table' not getting any shorter. He specifically talks about subsidies, access to public procurements, and critical raw materials and export permissions. 11.25am BST 11:25 Šefčovič also talks about the energy part of the deal, saying that given the EU 'will be phasing out the Russian energy supply by 2027, it is very clear that Europe will need to solid, consolidated and reliant supply of energy,' not just LNG, but also oil and nuclear. He also stresses the importance of working with the US on developing technologies, including high-quality chips for AI. Updated at 11.25am BST 11.22am BST 11:22 Šefčovič says the EU's view is that 15% is 'acceptable' if it is 'inclusive', meaning with no stacking tariffs and further changes. He says that politically the two sides are 'opening a new chapter' and 'understand each other's senstiivties, perspectives' better after these negotiations. 11.21am BST 11:21 Not surprisingly, Šefčovič highlights what he sees as positives of the deal – including on steel, cars and future technologies - and confirms he briefed the member states and members of the European Parliament earlier today. He stresses that 'all in all, this is an agreement which should generate meaningful and mutual benefits, and I hope it will be a stepping stone to a broader EU US trade and investment agreement in the future.' 11.17am BST 11:17 Šefčovič opens by saying the deal 'brings renewed stability and opens door to strategic collaboration.' He says it's important to 'pause … and consider an alternative.' He says: 'A trade war may seem appealing to some, but it comes with serious consequences. With at least a 30% tariff, our transatlantic trade would effectively come to a halt, putting close to 5 million of jobs, including those in SMEs in Europe, at grave risk.' He says that businesses wanted to 'avoid escalation and work towards a solution that delivers immediate relief.' 11.13am BST 11:13 Jakub Krupa EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič's press briefing is about to start. You can watch it live below, but I will bring you all the latest updates here. 11.00am BST 11:00 Kate Connolly Reactions from Europe's largest economy over the Trump tariff deal hatched in Turnberry, Scotland at the weekend, have inevitably been mixed, with some breathing a sigh of relief that there is finally a concrete figure to work with, but others exasperated, and warning that with such an unpredictable US president, it would be foolhardy to see the figure agreed upon as set in stone. MPs from Ursula von der Leyen's own political heimat, the CDU, as well as leading German economists have reacted with disappointment and urged caution. Manfred Weber, leader of the European People's Party in the European parliament, described the deal as 'merely damage limitation,' in an interview with Bild, and nothing to be celebrated. The result, he told the tabloid, 'is certainly better than many had feared.' At least, he said, 'it gives the European economy planning security'. He said the deal had made clear the importance of forging trade deals with other parts of the world, and had at least reinforced the importance of an integrated single market (even as non-EU member UK has struck a better deal). The economic policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU, Andreas Lenz, said 15% was surely better than the 30% previously suggested, but was a 'painful compromise', which harmed both economy and consumers. The most positive aspect of the agreement for the German economy, of course, is that the current 27.5% tariffs on cars, will be reduced to 15% Chancellor Friedrich Merz clung to the car customs cut in his attempt to put a positive spin on the whole deal, which he said would at least avoid an unnecessary escalation in transatlantic trade relations. 'With this agreement, we have succeeded in averting a trade conflict that would have hit the export-oriented German economy hard. This applies particularly to the automotive industry, where the current tariffs will be almost halved from 27.5 percent to 15 percent. It is precisely here that the rapid reduction of tariffs is of utmost importance,' he said on Sunday. However, the lack of a deal on aluminium and steel, currently expected to be 50%, hangs heavily over economic movers and shakers this morning. Wolfgang Niedermark, foreign trade expert at the Federation of German Industries (BDI), called it an 'additional blow' and said it sent 'a fatal signal to the closely intertwined economies on both sides of the Atlantic.' 10.45am BST 10:45 Jakub Krupa We should get more detail on the deal from EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič as he is expected to speak at the European Commission's press conference at the top of the hour. We will bring it live on the blog. 10.44am BST 10:44 Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels The zero rate tariff on US imports will not apply to sensitive agricultural products, senior officials in Brussels have confirmed. Specifically this means exports from the US of beef, rice, ethanol, poultry, and sugar are not included in the deal clinched last night. The concessions on tariffs have only been made on agricultural products that the EU does not grow or produce including nuts. 10.29am BST 10:29 Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels The 15% tariff agreed in the EU-US deal will apply to 70% of all exports to the US worth €380bn, officials have said. Rates on pharma and steel are still being negotiated and are not expected to conclude by Friday, Donald Trump's self-imposed deal for a deadline. While the talks continue, a zero tariff rate will continue to apply on pharma and 50% on steel. Wine and spirits are still being negotiated with talks more advanced on spirits than wine. The EU will lower what it calls 'nuisance' or negligible tariffs on a group of products including non-sensitive agricultural products worth about €70bn a year. The €600bn investments in the US, referred to in the deal last night refer to private investments already or about to be committed by private businesses. It does not refer to any EU fund. Zero rated tariffs on US exports to the US will apply to a range of still to be finalised products that include nuts, lobster, processed fish, cheeses, some dairy products, and pet food. Exports to the US that will be zero rated including aircraft and aircraft parts, some medical devices and some non-available natural resources such as cork used as bottle stoppers and flooring. 10.27am BST 10:27 Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels Tariffs on pharmaceuticals exported from the EU to the US will never go above 15% under the deal struck last night between Donald Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Senior EU officials have said they will remain zero rated until such time as Trump completes his 232 national security investigation into pharmaceuticals. But if he does, at the end of that, decide to impose tariffs on EU imports, they will be set at a top level of 15%. This explains the contradictory statements last night between Trump and von der Leyen with the former claiming medicines were not in the tariff deal and the European Commission chief saying they were. On steel, EU officials have confirmed, they are now going to open negotiations on a quota. This is not for presidential negotiations, they have said. On value of deal, EU officials have said that the 15% tariff will apply to 70% of all exports to the US. Updated at 10.28am BST 9.38am BST 09:38 French prime minister François Bayrou joined the growing list of European leaders expressing their less-than-enthusiastic reactions to the EU-US trade deal. In his first reaction on social media, he said: Von der Leyen-Trump Agreement: it is a sombre day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resigns themselves to submission. 9.35am BST 09:35 Senior Zelenskyy aide Andriy Yermak posted a video of a tower bloc in Kyiv hit by Russian drones saying 'this is how Putin responds to calls to end the war and sit down at the table' after another night of attacks on Ukrainian cities. 324 Russian drones and 7 missiles were reported overnight. Yermak sought to increase pressure on Russia, saying 'there is no alternative to sanctions, increasing Ukraine's long-range capabilities, and tough actions against Putin's entourage and himself.' [Putin] wants nothing but war and Ukraine's defeat. And there will be no defeat. Yermak also warned that Russians were also 'testing Nato's reactions' with drones crossing into other countries, warning that these 'signals cannot be ignored' – a reference to the earlier drone incident in Lithuania (10:20). 9.20am BST 09:20 An unmanned drone is believed to have entered the Lithuanian airspace overnight from Belarus, a second this month, with residents in the capital city of Vilnius reporting the characteristic sound and later receiving an alert from authorities about the incident. Locals were told to be cautious and not to approach the object, which was believed to have crashed in the early hours of this morning. It was earlier sighted close to Vilnius, flying at an altitude of 200 meters, Lithuanian media reported, posting a grainy footage of the object. The search for the drone continued this morning, and authorities told reporters they had no clarity on whether the object posed any danger. But defence miniser Dovilė Šakalienė said that additional resources will be directed to monitor the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. If confirmed, it would be a second case of an unmanned flying object entering Lithuanian airspace from Belarus after a decoy Gerbera drone crashed near the border at the beginning of July. 9.18am BST 09:18 Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels While EU leaders can breathe a huge sigh of relief that a trade deal with the US is done, the agreement is being widely seen as a victory for Donald Trump. Several commercial banks have told clients this morning it is an 'asymmetrical' deal favouring the US over the EU. As if to underline the contrasting fortunes of China which imposed retaliatory tariffs from the beginning, Trump has just made further concessions to Beijing. It emerged on Monday, that Washington has paused curbs on tech exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support Trump's efforts to secure a meeting with President Xi Jinping this year. The industry and security bureau of the US Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, has been told in recent months to avoid tough moves on China, the newspaper said, citing current and former officials. The EU acknowledges that the deal is worse than the zero-zero tariff deal it offered Trump in April. 'Fifteen percent is not to be underestimated, but it is the best we could get,' European Commision chief Ursula von der Leyen admitted last night. Stability and predictability would be returned to Europe's businesses and markets, she said describing the deal in Trump like terms as 'huge'. But Renew group MEP Sandro Gozi described the deal as 'unbalanced and dangerously shortsighted.' Hildegard Müller, president of the German car industry federation, the VDA, said 'further escalation' of a tariff and potentially trade war has been averted but added the deal would push costs up for an industry, already struggling against Chinese rivals. 'The US tariff of 15 per cent on automotive products will cost German automotive companies billions annually and place a burden on them in the midst of their transformation.' And financial institutions? 'Is this a good deal for the EU? Probably not. The outcome is heavily asymmetrical, and it leaves US tariffs on imported EU goods at much higher levels than EU tariffs on imports from the US,' Unicredit said in a note to clients. 9.05am BST 09:05 Jakub Krupa Good news: Bad news: There don't seem to be many people who think it's a particularly good deal. The framework agreement, agreed by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and US president Donald Trump at a late meeting in Scotland, manages to avert a damaging transatlantic trade war, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods – half the threatened rate. German chancellor Friedrich Merz focused on the fact that it managed to keep the unity of the European Union and offer some stability to businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, even if he would have liked the deal to achieve more. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said she needed to see the details of the deal to assess it further, asking questions about possible exemptions, promises of European investment and gas purchases from the US, and how to help affected industries. French Europe minister Benjamin Haddad said that while the deal would 'bring temporary stability,' it was generally 'unbalanced,' calling the situation 'not satisfactory and … not sustainable.' Not ideal. Global markets responded positively, as you can see on our business live blog, but there is much more to this deal than that. It is not business as usual. Elsewhere, I will be looking at Spain where the country's embattled prime minister Pedro Sánchez is due to give a summer press conference and the latest reports from Ukraine. I will bring you all key updates from across Europe today. It's Monday, 28 July 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning.


Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
French PM says EU-US trade deal an act of 'submission' and a dark day for Europe
PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) - France called a framework trade deal between the United States and European Union a "dark day" for Europe, saying the bloc had caved in to U.S. President Donald Trump with an unbalanced deal that slaps a headline 15% tariff on EU goods while sparing U.S. imports from any immediate European retaliation. The criticism from Prime Minister Francois Bayrou followed months of French calls for EU negotiators to take a tougher stance against Trump by threatening reciprocal measures — a position that contrasted with the more conciliatory approaches of Germany and Italy. "It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, brought together to affirm their common values and to defend their common interests, resigns itself to submission," Bayrou wrote on X of what he called the "von der Leyen-Trump deal". The high-level French criticism, and President Emmanuel Macron's silence since the deal was signed between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, stood in contrast with the more benign reaction from Berlin and Rome. French government ministers acknowledged the agreement had some benefits — including exemptions for sectors such as spirits and aerospace — but said it remained fundamentally unbalanced. "This state of affairs is not satisfactory and cannot be sustained," French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad said on X, urging the EU to activate its so-called anti-coercion instrument, which would allow for non-tariff retaliation. Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin criticised the EU's handling of the negotiations, saying the bloc should not have refrained from hitting back in what he described as a power struggle initiated by Trump. "Donald Trump only understands force," he told France Inter radio. "It would have been better to respond by showing our capacity to retaliate earlier. And the deal could have probably looked different," he added. Macron had said that the EU should respond in kind if the United States slapped tariffs on EU goods, and apply equivalent measures on U.S. imports into the bloc, in particular on services, in which the U.S. enjoys a surplus with the EU. But the softer line advocated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose countries are more dependent than France on exports to the U.S., prevailed.


Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
Recognising Palestine would not reward Hamas, says Cabinet minister
Recognising Palestine would not 'reward' Hamas, a Cabinet minister has said. Last week, Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Emmanuel Macron would 'reward terror' after he announced that France will recognise Palestine within weeks. But on Monday Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, said the Israeli prime minister was wrong and insisted formal Palestinian statehood must form part of a long-term peace process in the region. It comes as Sir Keir Starmer prepares to recall his Cabinet from its summer break for an emergency meeting on the war as the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to worsen. In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Reynolds was asked whether he agreed that immediate recognition would act as a reward for Hamas. He said: 'No, I think that is not the right way to characterise it. I think we all recognise that both Israelis and Palestinians require a two-state solution. No matter how difficult that is, that requires a state to exist on both sides. 'This conflict has clearly been going on for a very long period of time. But the scale of the horrific scenes we are seeing, we've surely got to use this as a moment to move forward on a two-state solution and that is how we want to use recognition.' Mr Macron said formally acknowledging Palestine would contribute to a 'just and lasting peace' in the Middle East. Risk of 'another Iranian proxy' But rebuking his decision hours later, Mr Netanyahu said: 'We strongly condemn President Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. 'Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.' The French president's remarks were also condemned by the White House although Donald Trump, his US counterpart, later said that it 'doesn't matter' what Mr Macron has to say. Sir Keir will press Mr Trump on whether more can be done to end the Gaza conflict at a meeting in Scotland on Monday. But his urging for securing a ceasefire raises the risk of a clash with the US president, who is staunchly opposed to recognition on the grounds that Hamas does not want peace. It emerged on Monday that Sir Keir is preparing to recall his Cabinet despite the summer recess to hold emergency talks on war as aid charities and campaigners warn the humanitarian crisis is worse than ever. Sir Keir has to date resisted calls to follow France by immediately recognising Palestine but is facing pressure from Cabinet ministers including Angela Rayner, his deputy, to do so. A third of Labour MPs signed a letter on Friday saying it was time for 'immediate recognition', a policy move that Ms Rayner is understood to '100 per cent' support. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, and Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, are also understood to be in favour of such a move. Bloomberg reported last week that Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, also wants to see Palestine recognised straight away, a view that is said to be shared by Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary. Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, said during a broadcast round last week he was 'deeply, deeply offended' by Israel's actions and was 'desperate' to see Palestine fully recognised. Labour infighting costly at the polls Labour has already been punished by Muslim and Left-wing voters at the ballot box over its initial refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire after the Oct 7 attacks. Five independent MPs were elected at the last general election on a pro-Gaza ticket including Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir's predecessor who now sits as an independent MP. Mr Corbyn and Zarah Sultana recently announced the launch of a new hard-Left party to fight Labour nationally. The pair have repeatedly accused Israel of committing 'genocide'. It comes after Sir Keir's tone and language towards Israel hardened significantly in recent weeks. The Prime Minister vowed over the weekend that the UK would evacuate children who required emergency medical aid from Gaza as he condemned a 'humanitarian catastrophe'. He has also said the situation in the region is 'untenable' and repeatedly demands Mr Netanyahu commit to an immediate ceasefire, as well as to delivering aid to the region. In a joint statement issued after a phone call on Friday evening, Mr Macron, Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, and Sir Keir said the 'appalling scenes in Gaza are unrelenting'. They also appeared to criticise Israel over the 'starvation and denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people'.