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". To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. 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)". Read moreStarmer slams Russian warship's ‘reckless’ warning shots in English Channel The agency said "individual combat training is part of the normal activity of a vessel on operations". It said the "signals requir...