British MP says French boat fired shots in Channel

British MP Chris Philp accused a French patrol vessel of firing live rounds near him in the Channel on Tuesday, while French maritime authorities said the shots were part of a training exercise unrelated to the British boat.

Philp, an opposition Conservative MP from London, was being interviewed by the BBC on a fishing boat when he wrote on X that a "French warship approached close and fired 17 live rounds behind us".

In a BBC video, a series of shots can be heard as Philp speaks on camera with the French boat in the background. A Times photographer captured an image of a uniformed sailor firing toward the sea.

Philp said the firing appeared to be "warning shots or attempted intimidation". He was at sea to watch migrant boats leaving the French coast.

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

The agency said individual combat training was part of normal activity for a vessel on operations, that required international signals were displayed and that the safety perimeter was respected. It said the exercise was unrelated to the presence of a British vessel, which was outside the firing range.

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

Philp rejected the French explanation as "not credible" on X and said there were no warnings in place about live-fire training exercises.