Mr Johnson made waves recently when he floated the idea of a bridge spanning the English channel between Dover and Calais during a visit by Mr Macron, claiming it was “ridiculous” that the countries were “linked by a single railway” – in a reference to the Channel Tunnel.
At the time, Mr Macron, who was elected last year after beating the National Front’s Marien Le Pen in a run-off, was reported to have said: “I agree. Let’s do it.”
However, Dr Joseph Downing, a guest teacher in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics, was sceptical.
He said: “For Boris, I think it has more to do with his own agenda of political self-aggrandisement than any attempt to impress Macron, who in my opinion is highly unlikely to swoon over what is an unrealistic project.
“In my opinion, it is definitely more about positioning himself politically on the domestic state by proposing large ‘blue sky’ infrastructure projects to make him look like a capable and ambitious leader to combat his negative public image as incompetent and inappropriate.”
Dr Dowling pointed out that Mr Johnson’s suggestion of a four-runway airport in the Thames Estuary, quickly dubbed “Boris Island” was a similarly ambitious idea which failed to gain much traction. Meanwhile, the Garden Bridge scheme, which cost the taxpayer an estimated £46million, was initiated while Mr Johnson was Mayor of London and scrapped by his successor Sadiq Khan.
The expert added: “I doubt the ideas will get much coverage or traction in France is it is a fringe idea at best, given the ongoing negotiations and concerns around securing the boarder at Calais in the face of clandestine migration dominate the agenda.
“Given these border controls a bridge really makes very little sense as it is not like the border is open to the free, unrestricted flow of traffic.”
With Brexit looming, Dr Downing said he had few concerns for the future of Anglo-French relations, irrespective of whether or not Mr Johnson’s latest idea was part of a wider charm offensive aimed at raising his profile, and also irrespective of the complex and at-times fractious relationship between the two nations.
He said: “I don’t think there is that much mistrust – most people are more concerned with the more immediate issues of their daily lives than with the old historical grievances of European history.
“I think Brexit is unlikely to change much vis-a-vis our relations with France and more generally other European countries.
“I think we all understand how interdependent we are and that if there is not future for ongoing European cooperation there is no future for individual European states in a world where power is much more widely spread around the globe than it was in the colonial era.
“Even Great Britain is no longer really that great on the stage of global power and we are much better off forging closer connections with each other than we are squabbling over historical events or the nuances of bureaucratic differences.”