David Cameron will attempt to steal a £6billion Indian defence contract from under the nose of Francois Hollande next week.
The Prime Minister will use a trip to India to try to persuade the New Delhi government to buy more than 100 Eurofighter jets after the French President left empty-handed this week.
French contractor Dassault Aviation was chosen last year as the preferred bidder for the contract to supply Rafale jet fighters to the Indian air force - a blow for the UK-German-Spanish-Italian consortium, which includes Britain’s BAE Systems, which builds the Eurofighter.
But Mr Hollande’s hopes of signing a final contract came to nothing this week - despite him squeezing in a visit before the Prime Minister. The French premier also failed to secure any major trade deals.
That has sparked hopes in Downing Street that Mr Cameron can persuade the Indian authorities to rethink the deal and buy the Eurofighter instead.
Officials made clear that the Prime Minister wants to steal a march on Mr Hollande, who has repeatedly clashed with Mr Cameron.
The PM angered the French by offering to put out a ‘red carpet’ for entrepreneurs fleeing Mr Hollande’s new 75 per cent top rate of tax, while the French government retaliated with the same offer for British businessmen if the UK quits the EU in the referendum Mr Cameron has offered.
A government source said: ‘Hollande was in India this week and a deal has not been signed so we will want to find out from the Indians how their talks are progressing with the French,” a Government source said.
16/02/13 Tim Shipman/Mail Online
