India, July 29 -- A routine television interview on the English Channel transformed into a high-stakes diplomatic flashpoint on Tuesday after senior Conservative frontbencher Chris Philp accused the French Navy of firing warning shots near his vessel as an act of deliberate intimidation.

Incident Off Boulogne and Conflicting Accounts

The confrontation unfolded while Philp, serving as shadow home affairs spokesperson, was conducting a BBC news interview aboard a fishing vessel situated roughly two miles off the coast of Boulogne. During the filming session, which centred on the ongoing small boats crisis and cross-Channel asylum crossings, the French patrol vessel Flamant passed approximately 300 meters away. Witnesses reported hearing a...