A former Reform UK MP has admitted mistaking a charity rowing crew for ‘illegal migrants’ but stopped short of an apology.
Rupert Lowe, an Independent in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, posted on X last night a photograph of a boat off the coast of his coastal constituency.
He wrote: ‘Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing.
‘If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported.’
Except the authorities had nothing to chase – it wasn’t ‘illegal migrants’, as Lower suspected, but rowers raising money for a motor neurone disease charity.
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ROW4MND – consisting of Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley – are rowing from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
The Coastguard contacted them and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby, only to realise the official was asking about their boat.
Bates, a former Royal Marine and British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, looked at the shore only to see a dozen people staring at them.
Marine Traffic, a monitoring website, indicates that the boat was drifting by Great Yarmouth just after 8pm.
The crew were contacted again several hours later because police had ‘asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were’.
After a friend forwarded Mike the politician’s social media post, everything clicked.
Mike said: ‘We found it hilarious. I’ve not been mistaken for a migrant before.
What is motor neurone disease?
Also called MND, motor neurone disease is a rare degenerative condition affecting the brain and nerves.
It attacks cells and nerves in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness and dramatically reducing life expectancy.
The disease kills a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis, according to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
There is no known cure.
‘The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I’m a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat.’
He added: ‘But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach.
‘They hadn’t twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land.’
Lowe realised he made the gaffe this morning, posting on X: ‘Good news. False alarm! The unknown vessel was charity rowers, thank goodness.
‘As a well done to the crew, I’ll donate £1,000 to their charity – raising money for MND. Keep going, and watch out for any real illegal migrants!’
The MP said his office received a ‘huge number’ of complaints about his mistake.
‘I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis,’ he added.
ROW4MND have raised £107,515 so far, with the team now just off the coast of Cromer, according to their website.
They plan to row their return journey next year, from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028, to raise £57million.
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