Barack Obama is “not always up to standard on decision-making or efficiency”, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is “perhaps not very intelligent” while Angela Merkel “had no choice but to come round to my position” when she saw the state of German banks.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is well known for his blunt speaking and ascerbic observations. But even by his standards, insulting his American, Spanish and German counterparts – three of his closest allies – over a brief lunch is quite an achievement.