The Mers-el-Kebir resolution or The Man who Walked Away
"With respect Sir, French senior officers are awkward, prickly b- chaps at the best of times, any small thing to ease matters could mean the difference between sucess and failure, first impressions and all that."
Instead of delegating the negotiations to Captain Holland of the
Ark Royal, Admiral Somerville commanding force H decides to conduct the negotiations in person. This avoids the initial confusion and delays (not to mention the insults to personal and national pride unwittingly inflicted on the French Admiral). The options are also presented in reverse order from the original (i.e. The option to sail to Martinique or US waters is option A rather than C.)
Gensoul therefore sends the ultimatum to Darlan, the French Naval Minister, unedited. Darlan's instructions were to accept an offer to sail the French fleet to American waters if it was presented.
From what I can tell I doubt that Gensoul would have been happy at placing his fleet at the mercy of any foreign power and presents the following counter offer (given his actions IOTL I can't see him passing up the opportunity to use deception to strengthen his hand).
His reply is as follows (in French of course):
"Gentlemen, my instructions from Admiral Darlan are quite explicit, to scuttle the ships under my command if we are not permitted to proceed to a French port in a location far removed from either any belligerent party, under minimum escort; and to disarm upon arrival."
Somerville sends this to London (without mentioning the liberties of presentation regarding the Ultimatum, trivial detail really

).
While dissapointed at not being able to effectively "capture" a large, modern portion of the French fleet, Churchill and co breath a collective sigh of relief and allow Gensoul to proceed to Martinique.
When Hitler receives word of this, his reaction forms the basis of a pop cultural phenomenon when these events are later dramatised.
The Vichy government moves quickly to placate their neighbours and Darlan is court-martialled, hanged and then buried in an unmarked grave.
Hitler later declares before the Reichstag that the British have shown their true colours as an insidious threat to the new Aryan order and will be dealt with before their interference can cause more obstacles to the 1000 year Reich ...