The British-French "tensions heightened" after French President Jacques Chirac delivered a series of insults to Britain, as London and Paris are facing fresh disagreement at the G8 summit, the Daily Telegraph newspaper said on Tuesday.

The newspaper comments came after Chirac joked "the only thing they (the British) have done for European agriculture is mad cow" when he chatted with German and Russian leaders in a Russian cafe.

Chirac also cracked jokes about bad British food. "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that".

To the laughter of Russian and German leaders, Chirac also told a story of how George Robertson, the former NATO secretary general and a former defense secretary in British Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet, had once made him try an "unappetizing" Scottish dish, apparently meaning haggis, news report said.

Blair, who was in Singapore to push London's bid for the Olympic Games against Paris, which is reported to be the favorite biding city for the Games and also trying to secure its bid, was said to be furious when told of the comments, according to the Daily Telegraph.

But British officials said that as the holder of the G8 and EU presidencies, Blair was "determined" to retain the moral high ground.

Chirac's relations with Blair were already at a low ebb after rows over the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy and Britain's EU rebate, and most of all the disagreement over the Iraq war, the paper said.

Source: Xinhua