French Navy carries out shooting drill mid interview

A French Navy boat was heard firing shots during a BBC interview earlier

A French Navy patrol boat appeared to fire a round of gunshots "without warning" in the English Channel during a BBC interview with the UK shadow home secretary.

Conservative MP Chris Philp was being interviewed about small boat crossings by BBC journalist Michael Keohan as a French warship passed by at 09:15 BST (10:15 CET), about three miles from the French coast.

Keohan said there were 17 shots but "no warnings" from the boat about 300m away, which left Philp believing it was an intimidation tactic to "stop us covering migrant crossings".

The French authorities said it was part of a training exercise, unrelated to the presence of a British ship, which it said was out of range of fire.

Philp dismissed this claim as "not credible", adding: "There were no warnings in place about live firing training exercises.

"It looked and sounded exactly like deliberate intimidation."

Chris Philp MP, the Shadow Home Secretary, said it felt like an intimidation tactic or warning shots

The captain of the fishing boat which hosted the interview, Matt Coker, said he had "never seen anything like it before".

The French authorities said the boat, PSP Flamant, was not engaged in an operation to monitor migrant boats.

Keohan said there were 17 shots, adding: "There was no warning for our boat, no signs given that this was the French's intention."

Philp said he believed it was an intimidation tactic or warning shots.

He said it "felt to me like an attempted intimidation to stop us covering migrant crossings".

A French patrol officer at the back of the boat was seen pointing a pistol towards the sea

At sea, Keohan described it as "the most unusual moment... in the quiet of the Channel" when the gunshots rang out mid-interview.

A French patrol officer at the back of the boat was seen pointing a pistol towards the sea. It is believed that is where the shots came from.

Keohan added: "There was no warning for our boat, no signs given, that this was the French's intention.

"Even now it's still not clear what the patrol boat was aiming at."

The MP was being interviewed by the BBC at the time of the incident

After the incident, Philp said: "It is extraordinary that the French Navy will fire live rounds to defend their waters against a visiting British politician but cannot bear to do anything about stopping illegal Channel crossings.

"If France showed people smugglers half the seriousness they showed me, the boats would stop.

"Instead, the French wave them through and pass them off to the Bri