Reform UK chairman Lee Anderson was back on the road for a second day of his party’s short tour of migrant camps and Channel beaches — and his frustration was plain to see.
Moments earlier, this reporter had shown him a leaflet said to have been produced by a charity for the hundreds of people living in tents among the scrubland near Grande-Synthe, close to Dunkirk. To Anderson, it landed like a provocation.
Mr Anderson said: “My Arabic’s a bit rusty at the moment — but this is basically a crib sheet on how to cross the English Channel safely.
“This is the sort of material the NGOs are handing out in the camps… advice such as ‘Don’t go when it’s windy,’ a tide check, and ‘Don’t attempt to swim in the Channel.’
“There’s a QR code on there which takes you to a website in different languages — like an instruction guide — telling people how to cross the Channel ‘safely’ and what to do once they arrive in the UK.”
The leaflet, which is available in 16 languages including English, left the Reform UK politician visibly angered. It also directs migrants to online animated videos explaining how to pursue refugee status in Britain — clips that have been watched more than 65,000 times.
Mr Anderson continued: “I keep going on about this trade in people’s lives. It’s all organised.
“I think the police are complicit in this as well — and the NGOs, in my view, are the biggest part of the problem. They are effectively encouraging people to set up these camps, feeding them…”
Reform UK chairman Lee Anderson leading his party’s mini-break tour of migrant camps and beaches – and he was not happy
The Reform chairman was angered police were apparently paying more attention to us than to stopping the up to 45,000-a-year migrants using small boats to cross the Channel, despite up to a billion in UK Government funding
‘There’s nothing wrong with feeding people and giving them water, obviously, that’s the humane and kind thing to do.
‘But they’re giving them hope – hope that they can come to a better life in the UK, and that, unfortunately, is costing lots of lives in the Channel.
‘The trade will continue, and we will continue to get migrants into our country that we don’t want.’
Gesturing towards the camp spread out down below us – and from which we had just been ordered to leave by half a dozen officers of the elite French police CRS squad, complete with handguns, side-handled batons, and helmets with visors – Mr Anderson was not finished.
‘The camp will be full of criminals there, but we’re the people who entered this country legally two days ago – it’s us that’s been treated like criminals, ‘ he said.
He was referring to the fact that three times in just over 24 hours, armed French police had asked him and the rest of the Reform group to provide proof of identity.
Mr Anderson was not keen to comply – which is probably why on the most recent and third occasion he had tried to give them his Oyster card for London’s transport system. A card which does not feature one’s name.
When it was rejected he handed over his driving licence instead.
The first time we had been asked to produce identity documents had been on Gravelines beach when hoping to see a dinghy launch at 6am on Tuesday – and the second time at 8am yesterday, seeking the same. On that occasion MP Mr Anderson, 59, refused, and was allowed to go free.
Three times in just over 24 hours, armed French police had asked Mr Anderson and the rest of the Reform group to provide proof of identity
The Reform chairman was angered police were apparently paying more attention to us than to stopping the up to 45,000-a-year migrants using small boats to cross the Channel, despite up to a billion in UK Government funding.
But there were perhaps reasons for the Reform group attracting official attention.
It was made up of eight burly and multilingual security men – with talk of secret pasts in the SAS, even the French Foreign Legion – two drivers (one an immigrant from Kashmir) Mr Anderson, two video crew, a fixer, a female Reform press officer, and three UK journalists.
We travelled in two rugged Mitsubishi pick-up trucks and a minibus.
Although the trip followed a ‘battle plan’ full of 03.00 hours type language, and with walkie talkies beeping, at times the organisation was odd for a political party claiming it could govern Britain by 2029.
The security team had told passport control on the way to France that we were, variously, a ‘band’, and ‘a group of friends’.
In France we all wore ‘press’ vests over our clothes, although just a handful of us could be so described.
And although we were hoping to watch quietly and see a dinghy departing, our group was so huge it was always going to attract too much attention.
The lack of frankness, as well as the over-the-top militaristic security presence, were odd for a political party.
Small wonder that when we finally returned via the Channel Tunnel yesterday afternoon, we had aroused so much suspicion we had to go through both French and English passport control twice.
We almost did not make it, after an incident which briefly appeared a grim foreshadowing of life in Reform Britain.
Our minibus suffered a flat tyre – and for some time it seemed no-one could fix it. Sadly our crack special forces team did not lift the vehicle with their bare hands to change the tyre.
We got on the road an hour later only thanks to buying a new jack. Which was just as well.
We had broken down 300 yards from the migrant camp Mr Anderson was investigating.
