Media 'rantings' on marriage anger Sarkozy

THE French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has dismissed media "rantings" about his marriage and appealed to the British media: "I love England – don't make me regret it."

Mr Sarkozy was clearly irritated by questions yesterday at a press conference in Downing Street about internet rumours that both he and his wife, the model-turned-singer Carla Bruni, were having affairs.

"You clearly have no understanding of a president's timetable – I don't have a second to waste in these rantings, not even half a second," he told the French reporter who first raised the issue.

"I don't know why you would use your time asking such a question," he told him. He later entirely ignored a similar query posed by a UK journalist.

Gordon Brown introduced the French president as "a great European, a very good friend of mine" and praised him for "leadership at its very best" over the global economic crisis.

He praised his guest and described relations between the countries as an "entente formidable de grande vitesse".

Mr Sarkozy returned the compliments, calling the Prime Minister a "convinced and convincing reformer" with whom he worked closely "in confidence and in trust".

Asked if he would urge David Cameron, the Tory leader, to rejoin the European People's Party (EPP), he said: "I don't want to meddle in domestic affairs. If you ask me whether I would have preferred him to stay in the EPP – my answer is yes."