Speaking to journalists as he flew to New York, Johnson insisted Britain and France have a “very friendly relationship”, which he described as being of “huge importance”.

The security agreement, and Australia’s related decision to tear up a multibillion-dollar deal for French submarines in favour of American nuclear-powered vessels, has sparked outrage in Paris, with President Emmanuel Macron recalling France’s ambassadors to Canberra and Washington in an unprecedented move.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said over the weekend that Britain was a “third wheel” in the affair, and accused London of “constant opportunism”.

France has cancelled a meeting set for this week between its Defence Minister Florence Parly and her British counterpart Ben Wallace, a source at her ministry told AFP yesterday.

But on the plane Johnson downplayed France’s concerns.

He said the pact, dubbed AUKUS, was “not in any way meant to be zero-sum, it’s not meant to be exclusionary”.

“It’s not something that anybody needs to worry about and particularly not our French friends,” he said.