On 31 January France and the United Kingdom signed a wide-ranging accord at Royal Air Force (RAF) Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, southern England. Although the Anglo-French agreement failed to include any firm contracts or orders, which will follow later, it was nevertheless a significant step in joint UK-French defence efforts. Following the arrival of French President Francois Hollande in the Elysee in 2012, a view had emerged that the drive towards closer Anglo-French defence co-operation, which led to the Lancaster House agreement of 2010, had withered with the end of the close relationship between Hollande's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
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