DAY 269 - PARIS

Monday 16 January, 2012

2569.5 miles– 5,807,201 steps

We had a packed day and so it was an early start to meet James Barr on the steps of the Church of Madeleine, the closest Metro stop to the British Embassy.

David Douillet: Our first meeting was with the French Minister of Sport, David Douillet, and I was accompanied by Ajay Sharma, the excellent and distinctively ‘unstuffy’ Deputy Head of Mission overseeing the Embassy’s work during the interregnum before the arrival of a new ambassador next month, and James Barr who had done such an outstanding job of organising my programme. On the car-ride down to the meeting, I was reminded of the brilliance of civil service briefings – they seemed to know everything about David Douillet from his education down to his shoe size and it was all very impressive. David Douillet is one of the most popular sporting heroes in France having won the French equivalent of ‘BBC Sport’s Personality of the Year’ and two Olympic god medals in Judo (Heavyweight division). The wonderful thing about meeting a distinguished Olympian, a politician, and a minster of sport is that he required no briefing on the Olympic Truce or the importance of the Olympic values. He was eager to understand what he could do to advance the implementation of the UN truce resolution and what concrete and workable ideas could be put forward. We discussed many ideas, but the one which he seemed to latch onto was the idea of convening a ‘First Principles’ conference at The Sorbonne (the birthplace of the Modern Olympics) on the use of the UN Olympic truce resolution and sport in general to promote peace and reconciliation. I was very excited at this prospect as I said to him that I could not think of another person who would be more suited to the task of hosting such a conference: distinguished Olympian (box ticked); Paris based (box ticked); ministerial authority (box ticked); charisma and resolve to inspire change (box double ticked). I left his office believing that this could have been the most important meeting of my entire walk, for if David Douillet decides that this is something that should happen, then it will be done and it will be world-class.

Senior Olympic Games: On the way back in the car with Ajay Sherma, he came up with another inspired idea, namely the founding of an Olympic Games for over fifties to reflect the ageing population and to inspire people with the possibilities of sport for enhancing quality of life. It was a brilliant idea, especially if it was limited to over fifties who had not been professional athletes, but had instead taken up a sport in their senior years. There were similarities with the inspiration for the Paralympic Games in celebrating what ordinary people are capable of in the advancing years. As a fifty year old I declare an interest, although poor Ajay will have to wait a few years before he is eligible. Great idea though – what it is about Paris that inspires such ideas!

Paris Residence of the British Ambassador: We had some time to spare between meetings and so we went back to the British residence in Paris, which is without a doubt the finest British residence in the world. It is packed with history in every room. The residence/palace was owned by Pauline, Napoleon’s sister, who in one of those fun quirks of history sold it and all of its contents to the Duke of Wellington for a very high price a year before the Battle of Waterloo. She then took the money to her brother in exile on the island of Elba who in turn used it to raise an army, escape from Elbe, and eventually meet his nemesis at Waterloo. I sat in the Duff Cooper’s library reading the diaries of Duff Cooper edited by John Julius Norwich. Duff Cooper was the Ambassador to Paris and close confident of Winston Churchill. Cooper was the only minister to resign from the Cabinet when Neville Chamberlain came back with the ‘Munich Agreement’ declaring ‘Peace in our time’ because he did not believe Hitler would honour the undertakings and was instead simply buying time to delay Britain rearmament. The Paris residence was of course where Margaret Thatcher was staying when she received the fateful news of the ballot result in the House of Commons on her leadership against Michael Heseltine in November, 1990. I walked down the steps and out of the front door recalling the scene of high drama as Bernard Ingham clattered BBC’s John Sergeant as they waited for Mrs Thatcher to emerge to make a short statement that she intended to “fight on and fight to win”, although she later decided to resign and subsequently flung the Conservative Party into an inner turmoil over its betrayal of our greatest peacetime Prime Minister. That feeling of shame still lingers not far beneath the surface to this day.

Eric Bocquet, Senator and President of the UK-FR Amities Group: I do enjoy visiting parliaments around the world – they are like theatres in which great dramas are played out and reputations are made and broken. Each parliament has a very distinctive feel and says something about the nature of the public discourse in that country and the role of the chamber in a country’s affairs. It was a double privilege to visit the French Senate not only because it must be one of the grandest senates in the world, and coming from the Palace of Westminster that is saying something, but also for the opportunity to meet Eric Bocquet (pic), who is not only a senator but also heads up the UK-France Parliamentary Group, which currently has twenty-three members. Senator Bocquet was an excellent host, particularly helpful in that he spoke perfect English, and showed us around the building and took us into the debating chamber. The French Senate is elected by elected representatives from the National Assembly and the local councillors and majors in each district or department. Their powers are much the same as the House of Lords, except in two crucial respects: first, they get the chance to review economic matters and second, they get the chance to directly question government ministers. Although Senator Bocquet is a Communist and I am a Conservative, we got on very well because when it came to the ideas of the Olympic Truce we were very much on the same page. Politics is chiefly about people and people are human; they interact, they can debate, and this shapes their opinions. The idea of spending time with other parliamentarians, especially in France at the present time where there is just a fraction more tension that usual between our two countries, is time well spent. The Senate wasn’t sitting on Monday so Senator Bocquet had made the journey down from Lille specifically and I was extremely grateful that he had as I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and it provided me with an opportunity to invite him to the House of Lords.

Pierre Schapira, Deputy Mayor of Paris responsible for International Relations: Our final call of the day was on the Deputy Mayor of Paris at City Hall, yet another hugely impressive building. We were met at the gate by Giles Spence, who is the Press Officer and also a Brit. Not only this, he is also a Brit from the north east of England, Jesmond and Alnmouth, who went to the RGS and after university met a young lady from Paris and secured his currently highly influential job at City Hall. Pierra Schapira is a serious walker and mountaineer and was therefore intrigued with my route, especially through the mountains of Switzerland, Montenegro, and Bosnia Herzegovina. We had a very good conversation in which I again pitched the idea of Paris hosting a symposium on peace through sport and the Olympic idea, which I had already mentioned at the beginning of the day to David Douillet. I also mentioned the possibility of partnering with Boris Johnson as Mayor of London to connect the Olympic traditions and aspirations of both great cities. Like virtually everyone I have spoken to about the Olympic Torch Relay, he was both surprised and disappointed that it was not taking place as Paris would have certainly been a major stop on its journey, and one might also suggest that it would have brought a much needed bit ofEntente Cordiale.

If I seem just a little bit flat, this is probably because I received news today that my request to walk through the service tunnel of the Channel Tunnel has been turned down on Health & Safety grounds. I have a very hard month of walking ahead, 450 miles, and the idea of finishing off without having to break my journey by getting a ferry was providing me with a much needed incentive…

Finally, attached is a link to a video on the UK Embassy in Paris website, which was recorded by Emmanuelle Rosello in the garden of the British Ambassador’s Residence in Paris: http://ukinfrance.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=715271682