British MP accuses French patrol boat of firing 'warning shots' near him in Channel

A British MP on Tuesday accused a French warship of firing "warning shots" as he was interviewed on a boat in the Channel, while French authorities told AFP it was a "training exercise".

Chris Philp, an opposition MP from London, was giving an interview to the BBC on Tuesday on board a fishing boat and wrote on X that a "French warship approached close and fired 17 live rounds behind us".

In a video posted by the BBC, a series of shots can be heard as the Conservative Party member speaks on camera with the French boat in the background.

A Times photographer captured an image of a uniformed sailor firing towards the sea.

Philp said this appeared to be "warning shots or attempted intimidation".

France's Maritime Prefecture for the Channel told AFP that sailors on the naval patrol vessel Flamant "carried out a handgun firing exercise off Cap Gris-Nez (Pas-de-Calais)".

The agency said "individual combat training is part of the normal activity of a vessel on operations".

It said the "signals required by international standards were displayed" and the "safety perimeter was respected".

The "exercise was unrelated to the presence of a British vessel, which was outside the firing range", it said.

The Flamant was not monitoring migrant boats at the time, the French authorities said.

Philp, who was at sea to watch migrant boats leaving the French coast, called France's explanation "not credible" on X, insisting "there were no warnings in place about live firing training exercises".

A Russian naval ship carried out a live-fire weapons exercise in international waters off southern England last week after informing a nearby British naval patrol vessel.

In June, a Russian warship fired warning shots at a yacht in the Channel.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)