French warship accused of firing shots as Tory frontbencher films in Channel
Philp said the shots were fired during a BBC interview and may have been warning shots, with the boat crew reporting no notice of a training exercise.
- A French Navy warship fired 17 live rounds while passing Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, who was filming a video on a fishing boat in the Channel on Tuesday.
- Philp was filming a report on illegal migrant crossings when the vessel approached, prompting the shadow home secretary to allege the action constituted "attempted intimidation" to stop his coverage.
- Matt Coker, captain of the fishing boat, told The Times he had "never seen anything like it before," noting the warship crew only fired weapons when directly alongside their vessel.
- The incident follows Prime Minister Andy Burnham's insistence that government plans to manage small boat arrivals are "working," despite almost 900 migrants crossing from France since last Monday.
- Home Office data shows arrivals this year are 45 per cent lower than last year, yet Burnham acknowledged there remains "more to do" amid ongoing Channel crossings.
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Tension at sea the English Channel on Tuesday 28 July 2026 when a British MP accused a French Navy patrolman of firing in his direction.
French navy fires live shots as Conservative MP crosses English Channel
The French navy fired over a dozen shots near a vessel containing a conservative member of the United Kingdom‘s Parliament on Tuesday as he was being interviewed about small boat migrant crossings in the English Channel, the MP claimed. Chris Philp, the MP for the south London district of Croydon South and the U.K.’s shadow home secretary, shared a video of the incident on social media. As seen in the video, Philp stood on the bow of the boat, a…
The British MP, who is the Conservative Party's shadow home secretary, claims that the French navy fired live ammunition at very close range at him. The post Britain: MP denounces intimidation by the French Navy appeared first on in.gr.
Conservative Chris Philp gave an interview to the BBC from a fishing boat in the English Channel when several detonations from a French vessel rang.
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