Latest news with #migrantcamp
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Robert Jenrick is pelted with bottles at Calais migrant camp before he's 'ignored' by French police as he reports how dozens are preparing to cross the Channel
Robert Jenrick has filmed the moment bottles were thrown at him inside a Calais migrant camp - before he was 'ignored' by French police after reporting a group with life jackets heading towards a beach. The shadow justice secretary was speaking to people at the Loon-Plage camp, located between Calais and Dunkirk, when he said a man 'started throwing glass bottles' in his direction. Footage shows one of the bottles smashing on the ground before a member of Mr Jenrick's team says: 'Rob, go! Go now!' It comes days after his colleague, shadow home secretary Chris Philp, described having a machete pulled on him by a man inside the camp before he was also 'pelted with bottles'. Mr Jenrick's video - shot on Sunday - shows the politician speaking to migrants before fleeing the camp when the bottle smashed nearby him. In his video narration, Mr Jenrick describes then seeing '60 or 70 migrants holding life jackets', who he watches board a bus without any tickets at around 8.30pm. 'They're now there at the bus stop - no sign of the French police whatsoever,' he says. Mr Jenrick and his team followed the bus to Dunkirk, where he says: 'We think they're in a little passageway behind these houses. The beach is just there. 'At daybreak, we find the migrants have gone. We don't know where. There's still no sign of any police. So I ring them.' During the phone call to the police, Mr Jenrick tells a female operator: 'I'm in Dunkirk and I saw a large group of maybe 40 or 50 illegal migrants in the cemetery off the main road by the beach.' After appearing to consult a manager, the woman responds: 'He does not think that they're going to come, but he's going to give the information to the police, then the police will decide.' Mr Jenrick then confirms that no one arrived, despite a three-year deal, first struck in March 2023, to double the number of French police patrolling the beaches. He adds: 'We've given £800m to France and we didn't see a police officer the whole day, and now we just phoned them and it doesn't sound like they'll even bother to come out.' Mr Jenrick believes the migrants either sailed into the Channel, went to another beach or abandoned their crossing attempt. It comes after the Tory leadership received an apology from the BBC after he was described as 'xenophobic' on Radio 4's Today programme. During the regular Thought For The Day segment yesterday, refugee charity boss Krish Kandiah claimed Mr Jenrick had increased 'fear of the stranger' among people. Mr Kandiah - director of Sanctuary Foundation - added: 'The technical name for this is xenophobia. All phobias are by definition irrational. Nevertheless, they have a huge impact. 'Over the past year, xenophobia has fuelled angry protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, deepening divisions in our communities.' In a letter to the Conservative MP, the broadcaster's head of editorial standards Roger Mahony said the comments 'went beyond' what is expected of its Thought For The Day segment. Mr Mahony said: 'I have concluded that, while its reflection on fear in society from a faith perspective is broadly in line with expectations of Thought For The Day, some of the language it used went beyond that. 'I have asked for the two references to xenophobia to be edited from the programme on BBC Sounds. Please accept my apology for their original inclusion.' The content has since been removed from the programme on BBC Sounds. Mr Jenrick said: 'Illegal migration is obviously fuelling crime and the public are right to be concerned about it. 'It's extremely disappointing the BBC thought it was acceptable to smear millions of worried citizens as 'xenophobic' for their completely understandable fears about undocumented men entering illegally.' A series of protests have been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, over recent weeks after an asylum seeker was accused of attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denies the charges of sexual assault and is due to stand trial this month. In a statement, the BBC said: 'During this episode of Thought For The Day, criticism was made of recent comments by shadow secretary of state for justice Robert Jenrick, about hotels housing asylum seekers. 'While the programme's reflection on fear in society from a faith perspective was broadly in line with expectations of Thought For The Day, some of the language used went beyond that and we apologise for its inclusion. 'It has been removed from the version on BBC Sounds.'
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Chris Philp pelted with bottles and has knife pulled on him during trip to French migrant camp
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he had a large knife pulled on him and was 'pelted with bottles' during a visit to a migrant camp in northern France. During a trip with Daily Express journalist Zak Garner-Purkis, the Conservative MP attempted to speak to asylum seekers living in tents near Dunkirk, as they waited to cross the English Channel in small boats. After attempting to speak to a group of Eritreans and a man carrying lifejackets, he is approached by Mr Garner-Purkis, who informs him that a man with a 'rather large knife' has walked behind them. In the clip, Mr Philp says: "I found it pretty shocking - you said behind me somebody had pulled out some sort of machete and we left pretty quickly." Mr Garner-Purkis says the man was "swinging it around in the air", adding: "It was clear he was doing it to send a message to the other people there - whether it was a case of 'don't speak'." Shortly afterwards while walking along the road recounting the incident to the camera, objects can be seen being thrown at them. Mr Garner-Purkis says "they are throwing bottles at us" and Philp responds: "Right, we've got to go. In a post on social media, the Croydon South MP said: 'We were attacked today at the migrant camp dubbed 'The Jungle 2' just outside Dunkirk. 'We were threatened with a machete, pelted with bottles & our car hit as we sped off. 'Those responsible are likely to be in the UK soon in a taxpayer funded hotel. This border madness must end.' In another video, he filmed a group of migrants boarding a bus while French police appear to be standing by showing 'complete inactivity'. He said: 'I just found French Police actively facilitating illegal immigration. 'The officers - likely UK funded - are ushering illegal immigrants onto a public bus to take them towards boat embarkation points. I took this shocking footage in Gravelines, northern France, an hour or so ago.' More than 50,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since Labour won the 2024 general election. Home Office figures show 474 migrants arrived by small boat on Monday alone, which brings recorded arrivals to 50,271 since the election on July 4 2024. Labour former home secretary Baroness Smith of Malvern had said earlier on Tuesday that reaching the milestone is 'unacceptable'. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Labour's promise to 'smash the criminal boat gangs' in its manifesto last year was 'just a slogan', with crossings now 'so much worse' than they were before the vote. There have been 27,029 arrivals so far this year, which is 47 per cent higher than at the same point of 2024 when the figure stood at 18,342, and 67 per cent higher than at the same time in 2023 (16,170). Earlier this month, the government began detaining migrants under a new 'one in, one out' deal with France. UK officials aim to make referrals for returns to France within three days of a migrant's arrival by small boat, while French authorities will respond within 14 days. An approved asylum seeker in France will be brought to the UK under a safe route as part of the exchange.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Machete is pulled on shadow home sec Chris Philp and bottles thrown on visit to migrants in Dunkirk ‘Jungle' camp
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has said he had a 'curved machete' pulled on him and was 'pelted with bottles' whilst on a visit to Dunkirk's new 'Jungle camp'. The Conservative MP began a trip to investigate illegal migration last night, travelling to northern France to visit a migrant camp near Dunkirk. In updates posted to X, Philp said: 'Exiting the jungle 2 near Dunkirk where we had a machete pulled on us. Then got pelted with glass bottles.' The MP for Croydon South spoke to police, locals and aid workers, noting a lack of French police on the beaches where illegal migrant boat launches are common. The MP posted this morning: '5am and I'm walking along the beach which has seen many illegal migrant boat launches - including yesterday. 'I can't see any French police here either - why aren't they patrolling this launching point? It's negligent.' Philps' encounter comes as Home Offices figures yesterday showed that over 50,000 migrants had arrived in the UK alone since Prime Minister Keir Starmer's landslide victory. Speaking to GB News shortly after the incident, Philps said: 'I was talking to migrants there literally about ten or 15 minutes ago. 'First of all, as I was talking to some migrants, another one pulled out a curved machete and started brandishing it, at which point we left pretty quickly. 'And then as we were leaving, we got pelted with glass bottles. 'And as we drove off other bottles got thrown at the car.' The MP for Croydon South spoke to police, locals and aid workers, noting a lack of French police on the beaches where illegal migrant boat launches are common The so-called 'Dunkirk 'Jungle' camp' or 'Jungle 2' is a French refugee camp that is thought to have replaced, by size, the 'Jungle' camp in Calais which was notorious before it was closed in 2016.
The Sun
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Migrants in Dunkirk ‘Jungle' camp ‘pull KNIFE' on Shadow Home Secretary and ‘pelt bottles at him' during visit
A SENIOR Tory today claimed he was pelted with bottles and had a 'curved machete' pulled on him during a visit to a migrant camp in northern France. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said he was talking to people in the Jungle camp by Dunkirk when the terrifying encounter unfolded. 3 3 He told GB News shortly after the incident: "I was talking to migrants there literally about ten or 15 minutes ago. "First of all, as I was talking to some migrants, another one pulled out a curved machete and started brandishing it, which point we left pretty quickly. "And then as we were leaving, we got pelted with glass bottles. "And as we drove off other bottles got thrown at the car." The Tory MP was visiting northern France as part of a fact-finding trip on the illegal migration crisis, meeting police, locals and aid workers. Mr Philp also said on social media he was on a beach at 5am that had seen repeated small boat launches, including one the previous day, but spotted no French police on patrol. It comes as Home Office figures yesterday showed 474 arrived on Monday alone, taking the total since Sir Keir Starmer 's landslide to a whopping 50,271. Arrivals so far this year are 47 per cent higher than the same point in 2024 and 67 per cent higher than in 2023. And a new record was reportedly broken earlier this morning as 107 people were crammed onto just one migrant boat overnight in the largest single load to arrive in UK waters. GB News reported the dinghy the migrants arrived on was a new design as much longer than the inflatable rafts normally used by people smugglers. The biggest number to make it to the UK had been 96. One senior maritime security source told the news organisation: "This is highly alarming. "It looks like the smuggling gangs have specified larger boats, which we know are designed and built in back street factories in China. "Bigger boats mean bigger numbers of arrivals, at a time when we're already seeing record numbers crossing from France. "If we are witnessing the advent of a new, larger migrant boat, this is the worst possible news for those attempting to smash the gangs." Home Office Minister Dame Diana Johnson earlier today blamed the weather for the record numbers under Labour. She told LBC: "Well, I absolutely accept that because of, and I know you'll probably pick me up on this, but because of the weather conditions. But you know that that is a factor." But earlier this year, ministers boasted they had 'broken the link' between calm seas and migrant surges. The "one-in, one-out" migrant swap scheme with France also came into effect last week. Only a handful of migrants are understood to have been detained so far. Under the Macron-Starmer deal, migrants arriving illegally by boat can be sent back to France - in return for Britain taking in the same number of approved asylum seekers.
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Welcome to London... Bailiffs tearing down a migrant 'shanty town', a fatal stabbing in Knightsbridge, and the rich fleeing. Another week in our tried, tarnished and dangerous capital
Six o'clock yesterday morning and the quiet of London 's Park Lane was shattered. More than 50 bailiffs had arrived to break up the sprawling migrant camp that had taken root over recent months in one of the world's most exclusive postcodes. A scraggy array of tents had been occupying the road's grassy central reservation, just a couple of hundred yards from a previous encampment that had been dismantled. Once again, washing lines flapped with tired-looking underwear, pots and pans were piled high, and men sat in the sun gambling huge piles of cash. But just after dawn it was all over. Amid angry exchanges and threatening words, the 30-odd migrants, men and women, started packing up their belongings into M&S shopping trolleys and wheeling them slowly towards Marble Arch as the clean-up team swooped and the open-top tourist buses started to rumble past. This was not the only alarming and unsettling scene to mar this expensive area of the capital. Only two days before, Blue Stevens, a 24-year-old dad from Hampshire, was killed on a nearby Knightsbridge street corner by a masked mugger. He was just outside the Nusr-Et Steakhouse, where a wagyu tomahawk steak costs £630, with his partner Tayla when the robber swung up on a bike. Some reports suggest that they tried to snatch his watch but police are looking at all possible motives. Mr Stevens resisted, was stabbed in the chest and collapsed as Tayla, hysterical, screamed 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' Desperate efforts were made to revive him, but he bled out on the pavement and the mugger fled. All in broad daylight. Welcome to London. Our wonderful capital city lately seems to have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Endless stories report that the city is increasingly lawless, dirty and dangerous, with an epidemic of violent stabbings, muggings and robberies by organised moped gangs known as 'Rolex Rippers' in posh, and what used to feel like safe, bits of London, swooping on anything that glitters and glistens; watches (ideally Rolexes), designer bags, jewellery, cars. That its restaurants are closing in droves. That there has been an exodus of firms listing on the London Stock Exchange. That the top-end property markets are wobbling and its glossy draw and international cachet are fading. And that those with money are leaving en masse thanks to a combination of spiralling security issues and Labour's crazily punitive taxes aimed at the city's non-doms – wealthy foreigners who were not born here, but are often the only ones who can afford to live in Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Mayfair townhouses and the £200 million apartments in One Hyde Park. Fleeing in record numbers, to Milan, Geneva, Dubai, Portugal. Anywhere, frankly, but here. According to a recent report on global wealth by Henley & Partners, in 2024 the UK lost more millionaire residents than any city in the world except for Moscow – with 9,500 high-net-worth individuals departing in just 12 months. The trigger was apparently Labour's controversial inheritance tax law, which means that, for the first time, all global assets (instead of just UK ones) owned by non-doms are subject to 40 per cent tax after ten years in the UK. Everything. Regardless of whether it was inherited, generated or held outside the UK. 'The stupidity of this is beyond comprehension,' says Trevor Abrahamson of Glentree Estates. 'If you want them to pay tax, they will pay tax. But not on everything.' Two of his clients – Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel magnate, and Norwegian shipping magnate, John Fredriksen – both great Anglophiles, have already left for Dubai. 'They're wealth creators,' says Mr Abrahamson. 'Which idiotic country would create an environment so they leave?' The issue is not that they should not be taxed. Of course they should. But the way it's been done. Because these people are sophisticated and supremely mobile they are simply upping sticks to avoid payment. And taking with them their families, staff, money, cars, planes and, perhaps most importantly for the future of London, their buying power. Because while we might not all love the global super-rich – and, let's face it, from a distance there is much to dislike, particularly the flashy types with the supercars, private jets and ostentatiously lavish lifestyles – they do like to spend, spend, spend. Which means that their mass exodus is having an unwelcome impact on our once brilliant capital city. Right now, London should be deep in its summer season. Throbbing with the buzz of tourists, Wimbledon finals, outdoor concerts, opera in the park, money being splashed. You don't have to look very hard to see the fallout. Let's start with Eaton Square in Belgravia – traditionally one of the preferred postcodes of the uber-rich, where a four-bedroom stuccoed townhouse could cost £25 million and a two-bedroom flat, maybe £7 million. It's always been subdued, but this week it felt completely abandoned. The streets were deserted, as were the pristine communal gardens – locked and empty on a hot, sunny day. I had never seen so many empty parking spaces in central London and the blinds were down and curtains drawn at most of the windows. The only life was provided by the odd builder, cleaner and a car valet, hard at it buffing an already shiny black Porsche. 'We come and clean cars here every week, just in case they fly back into town,' he said. 'They don't like it dusty, but they're not coming back so much now. Many houses are for sale.' It's the same scene in nearby Chester Square, once home to Baroness Thatcher. Empty and lifeless, with more than 20 luxury properties on the market – some lingering despite huge price cuts. Across in Knightsbridge's Montpelier Square – a quick pop to Harrods and round the corner from Wednesday's dreadful attack – at least nine houses are for sale. The same in Kensington where prices are down to 2014 levels. And over in Mayfair, there is plenty to buy in the multi-millionaire and billionaire bracket with some prices down as much as 26 per cent. But according to expert Jo Eccles, managing director of the property consultancy firm Eccord, just six per cent of the houses available are under offer. Because the uber-rich might have gone, but they don't need to sell – particularly not at a loss. 'They're mostly wealthy enough to be complacent about it,' she says. So they just sit empty. For weeks. Months, sometimes at a time. With just a property agent popping in every week or so to validate the insurance. Camilla Dell's company Black Brick provides this service. 'It's by far the fastest growing bit of my business,' she says. 'None of them want to go. The UK used to be a welcoming place for wealthy people to live and raise their family and work. This is no longer the case. It has definitely lost its status a bit.' Of course, all this hasn't all happened in the past few months. The exodus has been building slowly since the 2008 recession, economic uncertainty after Brexit and a gradual erosion of the protected status of non-doms in the UK under both Conservative and Labour governments. After Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, London's wealthy Russians evaporated. And the sense of unbridled crime is deeply off-putting, particular to the rich. 'Security is definitely a consideration,' says Jo Eccles. 'You need to be more streetwise than you ever had to be. So you don't wear a big watch in London. Many bring their own security.' It is tricky tracking the super-rich, because their finances are so complex and they have so many homes, and Henley & Partners' figures have attracted some criticism. But can it be a coincidence that so many restaurants closed in London this year? And that, while there are still plenty of great places, crammed and buzzing, there are also a lot of alarmingly empty dining rooms. A friend tells me that, a couple of weeks ago, he dined at Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental (where the tasting menu is £170 for five courses). For their entire sitting, theirs was the only table occupied. The same week, a single table of late lunchers were the sole diners at Langan's Brasserie in Mayfair until the early evening. And last month, a colleague was invited to lunch in the wonderfully opulent dining room at The Dorchester on Park Lane where, for 90 minutes, her party were the only diners in the restaurant. 'It was dead. That's the truth. And we had the staff coming to our table of four with desperation in their eyes,' my colleague said. It didn't help the luxurious ambience that, last month, before they were evicted and moved further up Park Lane, the migrant campers were right outside the hotel. The whole of Mayfair, once so impossibly glossy and exclusive, feels a bit forlorn. Shisha bars and glitzy cake shops have popped up. Bins are left out on the street in Berkeley Square. Beggars all over. Scott's on Mount Street – where, not so long ago, it was almost impossible to get a table – has availability every day this week. And the really posh shops there – Jimmy Choo, Balmain, Oscar de la Renta – were all empty when I visited this week. In Lanvin the doorman looks like he has not moved for hours and in the huge Bentley garage in Berkeley Square, a clutch of staff lounge on the counter chatting, untroubled by any customers. The daft thing is that Britain has spent decades courting the super-rich to stimulate its economy. They've been flocking to London since the 1970s. First the Greeks, then the Iranians, the Arabs, Nigerians, Indians – attracted like bees to the honeypot of the city's financial stability, safer lifestyle, green spaces but, most of all, our very warm financial welcome. As a result, large chunks of central London sprung up to service them. Swanky bars and restaurants. Supercar dealers. Madly over-the-top luxury accommodation, such as 60 Curzon, an uber-luxe development in Mayfair which had all manner of flats available to buy when I popped my head in this week. And One Hyde Park – barely 100 yards from where Blue Stevens was killed. Developed by the Candy brothers, it is a totally ridiculous glass craziness of flats that cost up to £200 million with amazing views of Hyde Park and amenities include everything from bulletproof glass to a 21-metre ozone pool and room service from the five-star Mandarin Oriental next door. Oh yes, and their own Rolex shop downstairs, though I'm not sure business will be booming there right now. Of course, the non-doms are not our only wealthy residents. Some experts claim that the plummeting property prices will finally reopen some markets – particularly Kensington and Knightsbridge – to domestic buyers, shifting families (albeit very wealthy ones who can weather the next round of taxes) back into the middle of town. And with the re-election of Trump, Americans are flocking over – mostly to Kensington, Notting Hill and St John's Wood. 'The Trump effect is huge,' says Jo Eccles. 'I had clients calling on the day of the election to buy in London and they keep coming.' But it seems that they're coming to a rather diminished London. A city that feels tired and tarnished, where migrants put tent villages outside five-star hotels and, where some neighbourhoods, are completely deserted. And, most worryingly, as the dreadful events of Wednesday evening outside the Nusr-Et Steakhouse proved, is also now alarmingly dangerous.
