I guess they decided the food in London is better. London has great restaurants - great Indian and other far Eastern food, better French restaurants than in France, great Italian restaurants - you don't have to have English food if you don't like it, so Chirac's remark made him sound like a hick who's never been out of France.
And by the way, how many Republics and other types of government has France had since the Revolution? (A stable form of government is more pertinent as to which country you can "trust" more.)
I had to laugh when I read Chirac's comments.
We can always 'trust' France, alright. Trust them to be the weasel, jelly-backed surrender monkeys of the world!