Conservative MP Chris Philp has shared a video on social media of a French warship firing what he said were 17 live rounds in the English Channel while he was conducting a live interview at sea. The footage quickly drew attention, with Philp questioning on camera whether the shots had been intended as a warning, adding that he did not know.
Philp was speaking from a boat in the Channel, discussing the issue of small boat crossings and arguing that anyone who crossed and arrived in Dover could be deported within about a week. As the interview continued, gunfire could be heard nearby, and it was at that moment that he turned to the vessel in the background and raised the possibility that it was firing towards them.
Both Philp and the boat's skipper said no warning had been given before the shots were fired. Philp said there had been no notice on the VHF radio, and that the French vessel only opened fire when it was in close proximity to them. The skipper, named Matt, said he had neither heard any warning nor seen any signals displayed on the vessel.
According to those on board, the firing was not taking place before or after that moment, which they said they found unusual. They suggested the exercise could have been carried out somewhere else or at another time, rather than right alongside their boat while they were in the area.
The French embassy said the naval patrol vessel Flamant had conducted a small arms firing exercise off Cap Gris-Nez to maintain its level of operational readiness in the current international context. It said French Navy units train regularly, that individual combatant training was a normal activity for a vessel on operations, and that the statutory signals required by international standards for this type of exercise had been displayed and all safety protocols followed.
The embassy added that the exercise was unrelated to the presence of the British ship, which it said was outside the range of the firing. Images later published by The Times showed the weapon pointing in the opposite direction, and those on board did not appear to react as though they felt under threat at the moment the shots were fired.