Sarkozy in the United Kingdom

Before heading off to the United Kingdom, Sarkozy sat down with BBC 4 for a radio interview (read transcript in French). In a rather amusing moment, the journalist asked if Sarkozy's views on the UK were influenced by that fact that "Your father...could have gone to the United States, or indeed to Britain - you could be British!"

One comment making some immediate headlines this morning concerned working with the UK to pressure the US on helping the dollar recover. He also called for a "Franco-British brotherhood":

"Whoever the British leader may be he will need others, other European. And how can we do without your strong economy, your language which is the most spoken language throughout the world – do without your defence, which is the most significant in Europe? I want a new Franco-British brotherhood."

Sarkozy also tried out his newly rehearsed English at the end of the interview, responding to a question on how British people should think of France with, "Last question, but not least." This beats the Charlie Rose interview last year, in which his English consisted of "I hope" and "I don't know."

Sarkozy is due to address the UK parliament at 17:00 according to Le Figaro, which will have it live on its website. If that is French time, then that will be 16:00 in London and 12:00 on the East Coast.

Le Monde also has an exclusive interview with Gordon Brown.

Meanwhile, Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping has answered the media firestorm over Sarkozy's Olympics comments:

"I believe that we should successfully host (the Beijing Olympics) while adhering to the principle of not allowing the politicisation of the Olympics."

See other headlines on the visit:

Sarkozy pledges troops to Afghanistan, new cooperation with UK on state visit
Nicolas Sarkozy fails to win back Britain's French community
French sailors in city visit