French Navy carries out 'shooting drill' mid interview

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."BBC/Jack ValpyChris Philp MP, the Shadow Home Secretary, said it felt like an intimidation tactic or warning shotsThe captain of the fishing boat which hosted the interview, Matt Coker, said he had "never seen anything like it before".