On August 13, 2025, what was supposed to be a fact-finding mission quickly turned into a harrowing ordeal for Britain’s Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp. While visiting a migrant camp just outside Dunkirk, near Calais, Philp found himself at the center of a dangerous confrontation that has reignited fierce debate over the United Kingdom’s ongoing migration crisis.
Philp, accompanied by Daily Express journalist Zak Garner-Purkis and a small team, was speaking with residents of the camp—mainly Eritrean and Afghan nationals—when the atmosphere shifted dramatically. According to BBC, Philp recounted, “I found it pretty shocking – you said behind me somebody had pulled out some sort of machete and we left pretty quickly.” Garner-Purkis, who witnessed the event firsthand, added, “The man was swinging it around in the air. 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’.”
The threat didn’t end there. As Philp and his team hastily retreated, they were pelted with glass bottles. More bottles were hurled at their car as they sped away. “Those responsible are likely to be in the UK soon in a taxpayer funded hotel. This border madness must end,” Philp later posted on social media, as cited by The Independent.
This unsettling encounter unfolded against a backdrop of mounting pressure on both sides of the Channel. The migrant camp, dubbed “Jungle 2,” is one of several informal settlements in northern France where hundreds—sometimes thousands—of people wait for a chance to cross the English Channel in small boats. Many, Philp observed, carried life jackets, a clear sign of their intentions. “No one in that camp is deterred. They are all determined to come to the UK,” he told GB News. He also noted the absence of French police in the camp, saying, “I saw no French police on patrol and had to rely on my own security.”
Philp’s visit was intended to shed light on why so many migrants, who could claim asylum in France, instead choose to risk the perilous journey to the UK. Some migrants, he said, mentioned UK hotels and remarked, “It’s easy to work in the UK,” a statement Philp linked to the ongoing Deliveroo scandal involving illegal work by asylum seekers. He added that when he told one man in a lifejacket that crossing the Channel was illegal, the response was blunt: “I don’t care.”
The timing of Philp’s visit is significant. Since Labour’s landslide election victory on July 4, 2024, more than 50,000 migrants have crossed the Channel, according to Home Office figures reported by The Sun and The Telegraph. On August 11 alone, 474 people arrived by small boat, bringing the total since the election to 50,271. This marks a 47% increase over the same period in 2024 and a 67% jump from 2023. The first three months of 2025 saw Afghans as the top nationality among arrivals, followed by Syrians, Iranians, Vietnamese, and Eritreans, as noted by BBC.
Labour’s government, led by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, has responded with a multi-pronged approach. The centerpiece is a £100 million investment to fund 300 National Crime Agency officers tasked with tackling people-smuggling gangs. Additionally, a new “one-in, one-out” deal with France aims to send some arrivals back across the Channel while taking in approved asylum seekers who have not attempted the crossing. Starmer called the agreement “a product of months of grown-up diplomacy” that would “deliver real results.” Under the deal, UK officials make referrals for returns to France within three days of a migrant’s arrival, and French authorities are expected to respond within 14 days. Approved asylum seekers in France will be brought to the UK via safe routes.
Not everyone is convinced. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has criticized Labour’s promise to “smash the criminal boat gangs” as “just a slogan,” arguing that crossings are now “so much worse” than before. Philp himself has been vocal, saying, “Labour tore up our deterrents before they were even in place, and the results are there in black and white.” He specifically pointed to the scrapping of the Conservative government’s Rwanda plan, which would have processed asylum applications in East Africa, as a critical mistake. “Every illegal migrant should be removed immediately upon arrival,” Philp asserted.
Labour sources have pushed back, highlighting that the crisis escalated under Philp’s own tenure as immigration minister. “When Chris Philp became immigration minister in February 2020, only 2,400 people had crossed the Channel in small boats, and there were just 10 asylum hotels in operation. By the time he left that job 19 months later, 25,500 people had crossed the Channel and there were 149 asylum hotels in place. This crisis exploded under his watch, yet he now has the brass neck to act as though he is just learning about it for the first time,” a Labour spokesperson told BBC.
Human rights advocates have also raised concerns. Louise Calvey, head of the Asylum Matters charity, argued that the “one-in, one-out” deal with France is “yet another attack on the human right to seek sanctuary.” She added, “In reinforcing the criminalisation of people exercising their legal right to seek asylum, our government continues to ignore the Refugee Convention – which permits travel by irregular means to seek sanctuary – and punish people for using the only means available to them to reach safety.”
The violence Philp encountered has added a new layer of urgency to an already fraught debate. Weekly protests outside migrant hotels continue, and the police have been instructed to share suspects’ ethnicity and nationality after accusations of covering up offences by asylum seekers. Meanwhile, smuggling gangs appear to be adapting, with reports of larger, more robust boats—some designed and built in backstreet factories in China—now making the crossings. One senior maritime security source told GB News, “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.”
For Philp, the events in Dunkirk were more than just a personal scare—they were a stark reminder of the scale and complexity of the migration crisis facing the UK and its European neighbors. As political leaders trade blame and propose new solutions, the situation on the ground remains volatile, with thousands of desperate people still willing to risk everything for a chance at a new life across the Channel.
The day’s events left Philp visibly shaken but resolute. “It was a slightly unsettling experience,” he told GB News, “but everyone got out OK.” Whether his experience will shift the political conversation or policy direction remains to be seen, but for now, the drama on the French coast continues to reverberate on both sides of the Channel.
