A former Royal Navy officer has slammed Reform UK’s plans to deal with small boats crossing the Channel as a “crock of shit.”
This week, Reform announced that if they came into power they would deploy the Royal Navy in the English Channel to push back migrant small boats attempting to get to the UK.
The party said under the plans, called Operation Fortress, navy vessels would return the boats to France and force those on board to disembark on French shores.
Zia Yusuf said it would be the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two”.
The plans immediately sparked questions from politicians and experts who saw issues with how France would agree to this and how Reform would get around the small matter of international maritime law.
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Party leader Nigel Farage claimed that the plan would no break international law because they would be rescuing migrants from dangerous waters and it would therefore constitute a “humanitarian” operation.
Despite these flimsy arguments, France have reacted angrily to plans for migrants to be returned to their shores.
In a statement on Monday, the French interior ministry said: “This would constitute a violation of French sovereignty, as well as a violation of the law of the sea and international law.
Whilst Reform MP Sarah Pochin decided the best course of action in response to this was to insult the French, Reform UK said in a slightly more diplomatic statement: “We will always stand up for British interests and protect our people, whether Emmanuel Macron likes it or not.
“Humanitarian missions do not violate maritime or international law.”
Someone who clearly is not buying Reform’s idea is former Royal Navy officer John Foreman CBE.
Responding to a post on X about Reform’s blunt statement, Foreman wrote: “What, and I use the phrase carefully, a crock of shit their plan is.”
During his career with the navy, Foreman commanded two warships. He has also acted as UK Defence Attaché to both the Russian Federation and in in Kyiv, and had military and diplomatic appointments in the US, with Nato, and the EU.
Basically, he’s someone worth listening to on a matter like this.
He isn’t the only senior navy figure to criticise Reform’s plans.
Speaking to the Today programme on Monday, former Navy commander Tom Sharpe pointed out flaws in the basic practicality of using navy vessels as glorified ferries.
He said: “A billion pound warship that’s configured for anti-air warfare or anti-submarine warfare, which are both threats to the UK, is not best used ferrying people around,” he said. “You’re better off using an actual ferry.”
Tory MP and former British Army captain Ben Obese-Jecty also asked some pretty key questions about Operation Fortress, highligting how it simply isn’t feasible.