Dover residents say town is no war zone, despite rightwing influencers’ talk of ‘invasion’
Dover residents say the town does not resemble a war zone despite rightwing influencers and politicians claiming an ‘invasion’. Chris Philp said French forces fired at him while he crossed the Channel in a boat, but France called it a routine training exercise.
Dover’s seafront this week is a picture of summer: sunbathers on the pebble beach, dog walkers by the marina and children splashing in the water. Yet in recent times, the town has once again become a backdrop for rightwing influencers and politicians who claim the Kent coast is being ‘invaded’ by migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp went out in a fishing boat across the Channel this week. He claimed French authorities fired at him to deter his mission, but the French government said the boat simply passed by a routine training exercise that involved firing live rounds. Local residents say Dover does not look like a war zone, and many question what the visits achieve. Alison Drake said the people making videos are ‘not really doing much’. Razia Shariff, who runs the Kent Refugee Action Network (Kran), a charity providing education for refugee and asylum-seeking young people, sees the stunts as an attempt to play on fear.
Tom Armstrong, who is openly anti-immigration, welcomes the attention. He said the message is that ‘the French are not doing anything’ and that the country is being devalued. ‘You’ve got to draw attention,’ he said, adding that ‘we’ve got to know the truth’. Drake, however, noted that while highlighting the issue might prompt action, ‘everyone knows about it’ and nobody does anything.
Philp’s record is part of the controversy: he was immigration minister in the early 2020s and oversaw a sharp increase in Channel crossings. Meanwhile, charities such as Kran try to address the consequences. This week, young refugees and asylum seekers are taking part in a scheme at a Kent academy. Shariff praised former participants, including a child refugee who now works as a nurse and others who started their own businesses.
Carol, a Dover resident who declined to give her surname, said attention should focus on Kran’s work rather than on politicians such as Philp and Reform leader Nigel Farage. Farage has repeatedly described small boat arrivals as an ‘invasion’ and called Dover the ‘frontline of the great national debate on immigration’. Standing on almost the same spot where Farage stood in 2024, Carol said the image he painted is unfair. ‘The seafront’s lovely,’ she said, adding that the town is ‘a bit rundown’ and the negative reputation could deter tourists from visiting.
