The French navy appears to have come up with a novel way of dealing with small boats in the English Channel: shoot at them.
Sunk: Croydon South MP Chris Philp looked visibly rattled by the sound of gun shots almost a quarter a mile away
Or, at least, get a matelot to fire a gun somewhere in the general vicinity of them if one of their passengers happens to be the Conservative MP for Croydon South.
Footage of the incident this morning shows Chris Philp appear visibly distressed as shots were heard, fired from a distant French patrol vessel, as the Tories’ shadow Home Secretary was once again spouting off about an immigration issue which he and his Conservative colleagues had done so much to create.
The incident occurred when Philp, rather than spending his time doing something constructive to help his constituents, was boosting his personal profile yet again, platformed for his anti-migrant rhetoric by the BBC.
At least 15 shots may have been discharged, apparently by a French naval officer using a side arm. The number of shots, perhaps coincidentally, is close to the number of times Philp was called a “liar” by rail union leader Mick Lynch on BBC Newsnight in 2022.
The BBC reports that it has no idea what was going on.
Today’s incident occurred about three miles from the French coast. According to the BBC, while the interview with Philp on board a fishing boat was being recorded, “noises” (they mean gun shots) were heard in the background.
“An officer on the boat was seen pointing a pistol at the sea.”
The BBC reports the French coastguard as saying that their ship was taking part in a training exercise and “it was unrelated to the presence of a British ship in the area”. They also added, for anyone who hadn’t worked it out already, that Philp’s boat “was out of range of fire”.
According to the BBC, Philp said it “felt to me like an attempted intimidation to stop us covering migrant crossings”. Philp did not try to explain why European allies might even consider trying to “intimidate” a middle-ranking MP or, for that matter, the BBC.
“It is extraordinary that the French navy will fire live rounds to defend their waters against a visiting British politician but cannot bear to do anything about stopping illegal Channel crossings,” Philp said, apparently in all seriousness.
“If France showed people smugglers half the seriousness they showed me, the boats would stop.”
And puffing out his chest just a little, Philp asserted self-importantly that he would be taking up the matter with the French ambassador. Watch out, Hélène Tréheux-Duchêne!
Sunk again: Pofessor Jonathan Portes nails another set of lies by Tory MP Philp
She might take the opportunity of any visit from or correspondence with the member for Croydon South that in the first half of 2026, total Channel crossings by people in small boats – who take this route largely because the previous Conservative government removed safe routes – were more than 40% lower than the previous year.
Philp and his ilk have been gas-lighting the British public over small boat crossings and refugees for years now.
But sometimes, just sometimes, they are forced to row back on their false statements.
And that includes Philp, who has deleted a video he posted on the Elon Musk hate platform in which he made a load of untrue statements about immigration, including “1,000 workers from Pakistan brought 6,000 dependents”.
Philp was challenged by Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics and public policy at King’s College, London. And today, as if by magic, the Philp lies were taken down.
Portes said Philp’s video “contained a number of (obviously) false claims based on his ‘research’ which (deliberately or through incompetence) misinterpreted Home Office visa data”.
Philp’s deletion came the day after Murdoch’s Times newspaper was forced to issue a correction over a similar false story. “The Times got this totally wrong,” Portes said. “It then used its own error as the basis for an editorial calling explicitly for forced expulsions of people living here legally.”
Perhaps Chris Philp might like to issue an apology to all the migrants living entirely legally in his Croydon South constituency and whom he has traduced so badly?
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Isn’t Philp on holiday. The House of Commons recess is from 16th July to 1st September.
MPs would usually be expected to take holiday during the recess period. But House of Commons recess doesn’t mean that they stop all constituency or MP functionality, which in Philp’s case consists mostly of doing self-regarding interviews to further his political career.
Philp making an early start to the silly season.
After reading this and the sad news that seventies hit singer Carly Simon has Parkinson’s, I am reminded of her song “You’re so vain”, which at Philp’s karaoke party could be followed up with (in a French accent) “you prob’ly think those shots were aimed at you”
He’s a publicity-seeking twit consumed with his own self-importance
I thought Philp was auditioning for the Croydon South AmDram production of HMS Pinafore.