Yet, in fact, there are more contacts at the highest level between Paris and London today than in any other previous government.
History will judge who was right and wrong in the diplomatic wrangling at the UN, once Blair persuaded Bush last September to take the Iraq issue to the Security Council.
Can we now leave that to the historians? Instead both France and Britain need to focus on what we can do to make sure that post-Saddam Iraq corresponds to the needs of the Iraqi people and contributes to peace in the region.
Europe and America need each other and to split these two great centers of democracy does no service to either side of the Atlantic.
Denis MacShane is British Minister for Europe
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