The attack on the Tories by Pierre Lellouche has embarrassed the Sarkozy government because of its outspoken language.

The Elysee Palace declined any comment. However, Mr Lellouche, 58, a maverick of the French conservative scene, was merely expressing in undiplomatic language the well-known and widespread dismay in the French Government and political world over David Cameron's European policies.

Mr Lellouche's sharp tongue and strong pro-Atlantic views kept him out of successive governments despite his deep expertise in defence and foreign policy.

A long-serving Paris MP, he was a policy adviser to both Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy before they became President. His support for the US-led invasion of Iraq and for Turkish entry to the European Union put him at odds with most of the French political world.

His first government post came when Mr Sarkozy appointed him to the junior portfolio of Europe last June. The promotion raised eye-brows because of Mr Lellouche's emotional style.

In a television debate last spring before his appointment, he lost his temper with a senior Socialist MP, calling him a poor fool and challenging him to a duel.

Like other French Anglophiles Mr Lellouche, has often lamented what they see as isolationist policies by the British Conservative party which handicap Britain in Europe.

Last July, Mr Lellouche, a former magazine columnist and business lawyer, said the Tories' views on Europe made France's most anti-European politicians look like federalists.

Friends see Mr Lellouche's latest outburst as an attempt to alert British Conservatives to the futility of their latest stand. As an expert in defence, Mr Lellouche has long advocated greater British involvement with France and in Europe, especially on the military and strategic front.

President Sarkozy has lately turned away from attempts to forge a close alliance with Britain and returned to the Franco-German partnership that was the traditional core of the Union.

The President's aides say that they expect Britain to consign itself again to the sidelines of Europe under a Cameron government.

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