Well, knowing that today would be the day of a big press conference between Emmanuel Macron and the British Prime Minister, I decided the only thing I could possibly do was go out into the English Channel.
I took GB News with me, along with one or two print journalists and most of those journalists had never seen what we witnessed today.
What happened was this: a migrant boat left the beach at Gravelines. When it wasn’t very far offshore, it was escorted by the French Navy.
As the boat reached the British Border Force, the French collected the life jackets back presumably to use again later today.
Nigel Farage shared his views on Keir Starmer's migration plan
GB NEWS
Now, I don’t know what the final tally for today will be, but I suspect it will be around 700 to 750 crossings.
This particular boat was typical: 78 people on board one woman, three children, and 74 young, undocumented males with no ID, no passports, no mobile phones, no way of tracking or tracing who they are or what they’re about.
The scale and cost of all this is staggering. There’s even a boat—leased at £6,000 a day—that comes to pick up the empty dinghies. As for the true total cost? I don’t know.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Why did I do this? Because I wanted to embarrass the Prime Minister as much as possible on a day like today.
He said, and I am paraphrasing here: 'Since Brexit and I say this honestly, Prime Minister, I know it’s not your view—many in your country explained that Brexit would help fight illegal immigration.
'But in fact, since Brexit, the UK has no migratory agreement with the EU. Therefore, for those attempting the crossing, there is no legal alternative route, nor any readmission scheme after a crossing. This creates an incentive to make the journey. This is the price of Brexit’s promises.'
In other words, a full-on rant from the French President against Brexit. If you voted for Brexit, you're thick and stupid. He’s the superior human being. But what do you expect?
Despite that, Starmer gave in to him on virtually everything. There’s going to be a new 50,000-strong military force headquartered, where else, in Paris. I see that as a proto-European army.
The Prime Minister proudly said that our independent nuclear deterrent will now work "in unison" with France. Well, that would mean it’s not independent anymore.
There were other deals, on business AND cooperation, but the so-called breakthrough is this: for every migrant that crosses the Channel, they’ll be detained and returned to France, and in return, we’ll accept someone who they deem to be a genuine refugee.
He called it a “pilot scheme” and said it would start in a few weeks. No numbers were given. Let me tell you something: it won’t work. And it won’t work because we won’t be able to deport anybody. We’re still members of the European Convention on Human Rights. The lawyers will have a field day.
'How does this help us?'
GB NEWS
And even if it did work, how does a one-in, one-out policy, replacing one migrant with another, help us? All we’re doing is solving France’s problem, not our own.
Folks, this is Brexit Britain. We voted to control our own borders, to make our own decisions, not to sign up to a grubby deal with France and the European Union.
I don’t believe it can work. But I’ll ask you at home: do you think Starmer’s deal will work? Or am I being unkind?