Tories all at sea in row over trawler 'kidnapped' by the French | John Crace

George Eustice did his best not to start an all-out trade war with France over fishing rights but his fellow MPs were less pacificIt's war. At least it would be if a handful of Tory MPs got their way. And who better to fight than the French? Our oldest enemy. The cause of the dispute was the British trawler detained overnight by our beastly neighbours for allegedly fishing without permission in French territorial waters, and now the subject of an urgent question in the Commons.It was left to George Eustice, the secretary of state for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to try to negotiate a peace. Or failing that, a truce. If the French were to intensify their checks on seafood at Calais, then the food supply chain really would be in trouble. He still wasn't entirely clear quite what had happened, he insisted, but he was sure it was all just a misunderstanding of some sort. Continue reading...