International Trade Secretary Liam Fox reportedly made a joke which insinuated French President Emmanuel Macron was sleeping with his grandmoth

Liam Fox was at the centre of a ‘dirty tricks’ row last night over claims he joked about French President Emmanuel Macron ‘sleeping with his grandmother’.

Onlookers say the International Trade Secretary made the remark as he emerged from last Tuesday’s marathon Cabinet meeting which backed Mrs May’s decision to try to seal a Brexit deal with Jeremy Corbyn.

Dr Fox’s friends said the claims were ‘mischief-making’.

After the Cabinet discussed President Macron’s hard line with Britain, it is claimed Dr Fox said in an ante room: ‘Is he still sleeping with his grandmother?’

A Government source said: ‘Liam’s remark was greeted with slightly embarrassed half-titters.’

After the Cabinet discussed President Macron’s (pictured with his wife Brigitte) hard line with Britain, it is claimed Dr Fox said in an ante room: ‘Is he still sleeping with his grandmother?’

President Macron, 41, added to the pressure on Mrs May to strike a deal with Mr Corbyn by vowing to block any new delay to Brexit if she did not provide a ‘clear and credible’ plan for leaving.

He has been married to 66-year-old Brigitte Trogneux – who he met when she was his teacher – since 2007. Once asked whether Macron was a good politician, she said: ‘There isn’t an area I have found that he’s not good at...’

Last night, a friend of Dr Fox, 57 – married to Jesme, 50, for 13 years – implied he was the victim of dirty tricks by describing the claim as ‘deliberate mischief-making’.

A spokesman said: ‘Dr Fox did not say this. It is untrue and offensive.’

President Macron has taken an uncompromising approach to Brexit, branding Leave campaigners ‘liars’ and saying that without a clear plan the UK should be forced to quit ‘in a disorderly manner’.

Brexiteer Dr Fox, has crossed swords with Macron before – declaring last year he was ‘completely wrong’ for suggesting Britain was ‘bluffing’ over No Deal. Parliament has since voted to take No Deal off the table.

Mme Trogneux, now a grandmother of eight, and Macron fell in love when he starred aged 15 in a play she staged at a Jesuit school in Amiens. He shared a classroom with her daughter.

A spokesman for President Macron said: ‘We do not comment on the President’s private life.’