space Boris Johnson intervened in the licencing process to stop them from granting 40 out of several thousand licences with the express purpose of picking a fight with France to show how hard he is for Brexit?
Morning Space,
No one said that or implied that. In fact the opposite is more likely true; that Bojo did nothing with respect to the licensing issue, thus nothing to avoid any escalation. That would answer the HOW part I believe; ' he did nothing'. As to the WHY part, that would be conjecture. However, given his track record for insulting the French ( or anybody actually) my 'personal feeling' (note I offer no evidence here, just gut feeling) is that Bojo would take great pleasure in the French being discomforted.