After embarrassing himself, Lowe has said he would be donating funds to the crew’s charity.
Former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has been left red faced after mistaking a charity rowing crew for ‘illegal migrants’.
The now-independent MP for Great Yarmouth, who was booted out of Reform by Nigel Farage, had posted a picture on social media on Thursday night showing a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk coast.
“Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW,” he wrote on X.
“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.
“Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW.”
It turned out however that the boat was in fact an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four who are attempting to row from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND).
The rowing boat’s crew members- Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley were contacted by the Coast Guard who asked them if they could see any migrant dinghies nearby. Mr Bates said he realised the Coast Guard were in fact asking about them – before noticing people on the coast staring at them.
They found out about what was going on after a friend sent them Lowe’s social media post.
Mr Bates said: “We found it hilarious.”
“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.”
After embarrassing himself, Lowe has said he would be donating funds to the crew’s charity.
He posed 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.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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