A French navy ship fired 17 rounds from a handgun near a small boat carrying Conservative MP Chris Philp during a live BBC interview on July 28, 2026.

Philp is the Conservative Party's home affairs spokesperson, meaning he speaks on issues like immigration and policing for his party. He was talking to BBC journalist Michael Keohan aboard a fishing boat captained by Matt Coker. The interview was about people crossing the English Channel — the strip of sea between England and France — in small boats to try to reach the UK. According to The Times, the French warship Flamant came as close as 300 metres to the fishing boat while the interview was happening, and that is when the shots were fired.

The Flamant sailed past Philp's boat during the interview. A French navy officer standing at the back of the warship fired 17 shots from a handgun, pointing away from the fishing boat. Philp posted a video of the moment to X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter. The Guardian reported on the incident the same day.

Philp said it felt like "warning shots or attempted intimidation" and that there was "no notice or training exercise in place." Keohan agreed, telling The Guardian he saw the officer pointing a pistol toward the sea and that there was "no warning for our boat."

Captain Coker told a similar story. He said the shots were fired only when the warship was right next to their boat, and he thought it might have been an attempt to scare them or show power.

A former senior Border Force officer gave a different explanation. He said the shots might have been blanks — cartridges that make the sound and flash of gunfire but do not fire a bullet — used during a routine practice exercise. Nobody has confirmed for sure whether the shots were real or blank. The Guardian asked both the French embassy and the French coastguard for comment.

The bigger picture here is that small-boat crossings in the English Channel have been one of the biggest issues in UK politics for years. Philp was talking about that very topic when the French warship appeared and fired a weapon close by. That raises questions about whether the two navies were coordinating, whether proper communication rules were followed, and whether the timing was just a coincidence.

The English Channel is a narrow and busy strip of water where navy ships, coastguards, and fishing boats all operate close together. Ships passing each other is normal. A weapon being fired at close range is not. The Flamant is a French navy patrol ship, and being within 300 metres of a fishing boat carrying a member of Parliament and a BBC film crew makes this unusual.

Several things are still unknown. The French government has not explained why the shots were fired. Whether the rounds were real or blank has not been confirmed. It is unclear whether the French ship followed any communication rules before approaching. And whether this was a routine exercise that happened to overlap with a TV interview, or something intentional, is disputed by the people who were there.

Philp's decision to share the video on X meant the incident spread quickly. The footage shows what happened but does not answer the main questions about why it happened or what kind of ammunition was used. What it does show is that a French warship was very close to a boat carrying a British politician, a weapon was fired, and no one on the fishing boat was warned beforehand, according to several witnesses.

The fact that it happened during a live BBC interview about migrant crossings gives the incident extra political weight. Neither the French embassy nor the French coastguard has addressed this publicly yet. The Guardian has reached out to both, which suggests more information may come, but as of July 28, the French side had not given its account.