Sunday 19 January 2020


Daniel Bernard

Daniel Bernard, who died on Thursday aged 62, was the French Ambassador to Britain from 1997 to 2002 and was regarded as the eyes and ears of President Chirac at a time when Anglo-French relations were sometimes under strain; his posting was overshadowed, however, by a remark he was said to have made at a dinner party held by the then proprietor of The Telegraph, Lord Black, and his wife Barbara Amiel.

In December 2001, in an article for The Telegraph, Barbara Amiel referred to the open expression of anti-Semitism since September 11, and described how "the ambassador of a major EU country politely told a gathering at my home that the current troubles in the world were all because of 'that shitty little country Israel'. 'Why,' he asked, 'should the world be in danger of World War Three because of those people?' "

Within 24 hours it was revealed that Bernard had been dining at the Blacks' Kensington house when the remarks were made, and that they could be attributed only to him. Senior figures from the Jewish community in Britain immediately called for his resignation. Bernard himself reacted initially with outrage at what he saw as a breach of trust at a private party, and claimed not to remember the wording of his conversation. Although he refused to apologise, he vehemently denied that he was anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.

The damage, however, had been done; and the following day the Israeli government and a number of Labour MPs added their voices to the clamour. The French embassy in London quickly embarked on a damage limitation exercise. The remarks were blamed on Bernard's limited grasp of English, and he was described as being "extremely upset" at the accusations of anti-Semitism.

"In the course of that discussion," claimed Yves Charpentier, his spokesman, "the ambassador referred to 'little Israel', in the sense that it is geographically small. He was saying that the problem was incredibly limited geographically but that nevertheless the scale of the consequences is huge and the repercussions around the world are tremendous."

It took some weeks for the row to abate, but Bernard was not forced to resign. In September 2002, however, he left Britain to become Ambassador to Algeria. In response to speculation in the British press, he insisted that he was not being demoted. In fact, a spokesman explained, Bernard had requested the posting to the troubled former French colony.

Daniel Louis Bernard was born on September 13 1941 in Lyon and educated there at the Lyceé du Parc. Young Daniel first came to Britain as a 12-year-old schoolboy when he attended a grammar school in Birmingham for six months. "Our common language was soccer," he later recalled. "My biggest shock was getting a cricket ball in the balls." Nevertheless he became a lifelong fan of the sport.

Having studied English at the University of Lyon, Bernard's first diplomatic posting was to the French embassy in Dublin, where he worked from 1967 to 1971. Six years later he was posted to the United Nations, followed by a spell in Brussels between 1977 and 1981, when he was attached to the EC.

Between 1981 and 1984 he held a number of positions in the French civil service before his appointment as diplomatic adviser to the French Prime Minister, Laurent Fabius. In 1990 he was made spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Quai D'Orsay, where he was widely regarded as well-informed, if occasionally outspoken.

Bernard was an ardent anglophile and football aficionado. During his time in London he befriended most of the French footballers who played for British teams, and even owned a Chelsea shirt with "Bernard 99" embroidered on the back. In October 1999 he was publicly photographed eating British beef at the French embassy at a time when the French were refusing to lift their ban on the meat following the BSE crisis. Wisely, Bernard refused to comment, choosing instead to eat in silence.

But he did not shy away from other controversial topics. "Hunting," he once explained, "is a very important issue in France, but not in the same class-ridden way it is in this country. We have a different attitude. Yes, it used to be the privilege of the nobility, but all that ended with the Revolution. After that it became the right of peasants to hunt, shoot, whatever."

In September 2001 Bernard, along with the German ambassador Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz and the Italian ambassador Luigi Amaduzzi, gave a joint interview on the importance of cultural exchange and the lack of language skills amongst British schoolchildren. Greeting Alice Thomson from The Daily Telegraph with three kisses, he told her: "You are most lucky to have coffee with three men - and not just any old men. Three ambassadors, no less. And," he added, "three such influential ones."

Bernard was appointed CBE in 1992 and awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 1997. An urbane man and a loyal friend, Bernard was dedicated to his work, despite being dogged by ill health in the last years of his life. Two weeks ago, when Jacques Chirac visited Algiers, Bernard, as ambassador, was there to give him an official welcome.

He married Monique Beaumet in 1964. She survives him with two sons and a daughter.


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