Emmanuel Macron will seek to break the ice with Keir Starmer when the two men meet at the French presidential palace on Tuesday by handing the Labour leader a pair of cufflinks with the Elysée logo, The Telegraph understands.

       The Labour leader, who this weekend said he would use the meeting to “attempt to get a much better deal for the UK” with the EU, is expected to offer the French president an Arsenal shirt. Mr Macron is a fervent fan of the French team Olympique de Marseille.

       The Elysée was originally considering offering Sir Keir a book on the presidential palace, The Telegraph understands, but decided it was a bit too stuffy.

       Sir Keir’s team said he did wear cufflinks “on occasion”. Mr Macron, on the other hand, does so often, and is keen on sporting those with the French blue-white-red cockade – a famous emblem of the French Revolution.

       The cufflinks Sir Keir will receive say “République fran？aise” on them.

       Senior French sources last week conceded the Elysée tetê a tetê was a “break with protocol” as Sir Keir – who the French president does not know – is not from Mr Macron’s centrist “political family”.

       Cross-Channel ties have warmed under Rishi Sunak, a former banker like Macron, with their relationship being dubbed a “bromance” by some.

       Ahead of the meeting with Sir Keir, Paris said it was interested in hearing details of the Labour leader’s “major policies”.

       The Labour leader was expected to discuss his plan to join an EU-wide quota system for sharing out migrants on condition that the bloc, including France, accepted “returns” of migrants who enter the UK illegally – thousands on small boats across the Channel.

       He was also expected to talk about potentially renegotiating the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation agreement struck by former prime minister Boris Johnson which is due for review in 2025.