Ex-Reform MP alerts coastguard to 'migrants' - who were a charity rowing team

MP Rupert Lowe alerted the coastguard to potential migrants on a boat - who turned out to be a charity rowing crew.

The independent Great Yarmouth MP posted a picture on social media on Thursday night of a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk Coast, saying he had alerted the authorities.

He wrote dinghies were coming into Great Yarmouth, "RIGHT NOW".

"If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure those individuals are deported," he added.

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But the "dinghy" was actually an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four attempting to row from Land's End to John O'Groats for motor neurone disease research.

Mr Lowe, who was suspended from Reform UK in March, posted on Friday morning that it was a "false alarm" and was a boat of charity rowers, "thank goodness".

He said he would donate £1,000 to their charity "as a well done" - but warned people to "watch out for any real illegal migrants".

"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 migrants!"

Police wanted to send a boat to check

It is the first of four gruelling rows the crew will take over four years in an attempt to raise £57m for motor neurone disease research, inspired by the deaths of rugby players Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir from the condition.

Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley said the coastguard initially contacted them and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby.

Ex-Royal Marine Mr Bates, a British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, said it soon became clear the coastguard was asking about their boat.

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

After the coastguard accepted they were not carrying migrants, they rowed on through the night but hours later were contacted again by the coastguard because the police had "asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were".

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

A friend then forwarded Mr Lowe's post, which Mr Bates said was "a moment of light relief".

"We found it hilarious. I've not been mistaken for a migrant before," he said.

"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.

"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."

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Gruelling four-year challenge

The crew set off from Land's End on 25 July, heading north, but bad weather forced them to stop, and they decided to return to Land's End and start again, heading anticlockwise around the UK.

Next year, the team is hoping to row from John O'Groats to Land's End, then from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028.

Mr Bates said: "We're rowing for hope, we're rowing to find a cure, and hopefully we'll raise £57m - we certainly will if MPs keep talking about us. Maybe Rupert will give us a donation."