French warship 'fires 17 warning shots' at Chris Philp as Tory MP monitors small boats crossing Channel: 'Attempt to intimidate!'

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has accused a French warship of firing 17 warning shots at him while he was monitoring the small boat crisis in the English Channel.

Reporting on Britain's migrant crisis, Mr Philp captured the shocking moment the French navy appeared to open fire nearby.

In footage shared on social media, the Tory MP said he felt the shots were "warning shots" or "attempted intimidation".

He said of the incident: "On the Channel today monitoring illegal migrant crossings.

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"As I was being interviewed by the BBC just now a French warship approached close and fired 17 live rounds behind us.

"There was no notice or training exercise in place. Felt like warning shots or attempted intimidation."

In the footage, Mr Philp can be seen on board his vessel speaking to a BBC reporter before several gunshots are heard from the ship behind them.

Mr Philp and the other passenger looked around in horror before the Tory MP asked: "Is that a warning shot towards us? I don't know."

The other passenger was equally confused, responding: "That's what I was trying to work out."

Speaking to the crew inside the ship, Mr Philp was then informed that "no announcement" from the French was made to their boat before the shots were fired.

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He revealed: "As far as I know, if you're having a live firing exercise, then that's always announced on the VHF to all the vessels in the vicinity, and they actually will give the position of where that's going to take place.

"And I didn't hear no... there's been nothing announced on the VHF from what we've heard this morning. We've been out since 6:00am."

Mr Philp then asked: "So it sounds like it might have been an effort to intimidate us?"

The crew worker responded: "It could well have been. It might have just been a little bit of a warning shot and maybe just trying a bit of show of force or something."

Addressing the ongoing migrant crisis, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has broken his silence on the matter after a record-breaking mega dinghy entered Britain.

Asked whether he would like to see the hotels closed, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman replied: "The work on that continues."

He added there "is no change in that work that’s being carried out by the Home Secretary (Shabana Mahmood) in her department".

He made clear that Mr Burnham had focused in his first week as Prime Minister "on taking immediate action to give people and families breathing space on the cost of living".

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