MP slams 'illegal migrants' he spotted 'heading for UK in small boat' - but he couldn't be more wrong

Ex-Reform UK MP, Rupert Lowe, has become a laughing stock online after calling out a "small boat" filled with "illegal migrants" he spotted off the coast of Great Yarmouth - except it couldn't have been further from.

Lowe has previously expressed his support for Donald Trump's approach to tackling immigration, and said the UK should follow suit.

"Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW", he wrote on X, adding that he would "alert authorities".

He added that if the people on board were illegal migrants he would be "using every tool" to ensure they were deported.

Except, they weren't. They were actually a group of charity rowers heading from Land's End, Cornwall, to John O'Groats, Scotland, as confirmed by HM Coastguard.

On Friday (8 August), Lowe issued an apology, and vowed to donate £1,000 to a Motor Neurone Disease charity, which the rowers have raised over £100,000 for.

"We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents - I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis", he wrote.

"No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal immigrants!"

Mike Bates, a British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic, was one of those on board, and has since spoken out about the incident, branding it "hilarious".

"I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us", he said.

"I've not been mistaken for a migrant before.

"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."

Naturally, Lowe has since become the subject of mockery online for his faux pas.

"Rupert Lowe panics and phones authorities after spotting two potential migrants in a small boat", one person joked, alongside a photo of children's TV characters, Rosie and Jim.

What an awkward blunder.

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