A French Navy patrol boat fired 17 shots without warning in the English Channel on Tuesday morning while a BBC journalist was interviewing a British MP about small boat crossings, according to BBC News.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp was being interviewed by BBC journalist Michael Keohan aboard a fishing boat roughly three miles from the French coast when the French warship passed by at 09:15 BST. The patrol boat, identified as PSP Flamant, was approximately 300 meters away when the shots were fired.
Keohan said there were no alerts before the gunfire began. "There was no warning for our boat, no signs given that this was the French's intention," he said. "Even now it's still not clear what the patrol boat was aiming at." A French patrol officer at the back of the boat was seen pointing a pistol toward the sea, which is believed to be where the shots originated.
Philp said the incident felt deliberate. "It felt to me like an attempted intimidation to stop us covering migrant crossings," he said. After the shooting, Philp offered a sharp assessment of French enforcement priorities. "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," he said. "If France showed people smugglers half the seriousness they showed me, the boats would stop. Instead, the French wave them through and pass them off to the British coastguard so it's our problem."
The captain of the fishing boat hosting the interview, Matt Coker, said he had "never seen anything like it before."
French authorities said the exercise aboard PSP Flamant was a training drill, unrelated to the presence of the British vessel, and that the British boat was out of range of fire. They also said the patrol boat was not engaged in any operation to monitor migrant crossings at the time.
A Home Office spokesperson said the British government was looking into the matter. "We are in contact with the French authorities to understand the full context of this incident," the spokesperson said. Philp said he planned to raise the incident with the French ambassador.
The incident comes weeks after a separate event in British waters. Earlier this month, a Russian warship shadowed by a Royal Navy vessel carried out a live-fire artillery exercise just 46 miles south of Plymouth.
