When Chris Philp heard a volley of shots on the high seas and spun round to see a French gunship, he believed he was the victim of naval aggression – and updated his social media feed accordingly.
The reality appears to be more mundane: it was, the French authorities said, a routine Channel training exercise by officers who had no idea that the shadow home affairs spokesperson was present, or who he was in the first place.
Philp was being interviewed by the BBC on a fishing vessel a couple of miles off Boulogne on Tuesday when the French boat Flamant passed by at a distance of about 300 metres. As it did so, a French navy officer standing at the stern fired 17 shots from a handgun, aiming away from Philp.
Philp, who was being questioned about the small boats crisis, turned to the BBC interviewer, Michael Keohan, and said: “Is that toward us? I dunno.”
After uploading a video of the incident to X, Philp claimed it could have been an attempt to censor debate about asylum seekers travelling to the UK in dinghies: “There was no notice or training exercise in place. Felt like warning shots or attempted intimidation.”
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After several hours of online speculation that the shots could provoke a diplomatic incident, the French authorities said the gunfire had nothing to do with Philp or the BBC but was conducted to ensure “operation readiness” amid international tensions.
Earlier this month, a Russian warship, shadowed by a Royal Navy vessel, carried out a live-fire artillery exercise 46 miles south of Plymouth.
A statement from French defence staff said: “French navy units train regularly. Individual combatant training is a normal activity for a vessel on operations.
“The statutory signals required by international standards for this type of firing exercise were displayed, and all safety protocols were followed.
“This exercise is unrelated to the presence of a British ship in the area, which was outside the range of the firing. The Flamant was not engaged in an operation to monitor migrant vessels.”
Others were sceptical that a French gunship would have acted in response to Philp’s interview, or been aware of it.
One former senior Border Force officer said: “There are often exercises at sea involving the Royal or the French navy, and shots are occasionally fired, usually using blanks. This may be nothing at all.”
Kevin Rowlands, a retired Royal Navy captain and journal editor at the RUSI thinktank, said it was unlikely that the French were deliberately trying to intimidate Philp.
He said naval vessels train “pretty regularly” with small arms and the handgun appeared to be aimed “in a safe direction”.
“And so, on the face of it, I don’t think this appears to be an incident where the French are actively trying to intimidate a British politician or the BBC. That seems a little bit much, from what I’ve seen,” he said.
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Those on the boat with Philp said that the incident was unsettling.
Keohan described it as “the most unusual moment … in the quiet of the Channel”. He said he saw a French patrol officer at the back of the boat pointing a pistol toward the sea and believed that was where the shots came from.
The journalist added: “There was no warning for our boat, no signs given that this was the French intention.”
The captain of the fishing boat, Matt Coker, said he also believed it was an attempt at intimidation.
“It’s a bit strange that as they approached us there wasn’t fire or anything and then as they went past, afterwards there wasn’t fire or anything,” he said. “They only seemed to be firing the weapons when they were right alongside us. So I find that a bit strange because we’ve got all this open sea out here.”
Asked to respond to the French authorities’ denial, Philp said it “was not credible”.
“They fired the live rounds at the closest point of approach to us – and didn’t fire anything that we saw before or after. It looked and sounded exactly like deliberate intimidation,” he said.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This is a matter for the French authorities.”
