Express Home Affairs Editor Michael Knowles recalled a tense standoff between a migrant and Lee Anderson as the MP visited a camp in northern France.
Inside the migrant threats during Lee Anderson’s camp visit
A man “insistent” on reaching the UK threatened to stab members of Lee Anderson’s security team during a tense encounter at a migrant camp in northern France. The man, a 22-year-old Somalian called Hassan, also suggested he would kidnap a female member of the Reform UK chairman’s team.
Express Home Affairs Editor Michael Knowles, who joined Mr Anderson on his visit to the camp in Calais, revealed the shocking incident on the latest episode of the Daily Expresso podcast. Speaking to host Steph Spyro, Knowles said: “As the cameras went off, it started to get really quite edgy. Because what happened was this chap then started to threaten to stab Lee’s security guards.
“These are all former SAS guys, so there was quite an atmosphere and they were very much on the lookout for any kind of conflict anyway.
“But then the really chilling part came when he focused on Lee’s only female member of staff and he basically said, ‘I am going to take you to the UK with me’, inferring he was going to kidnap her.”
Knowles said Hassan had earlier been “insistent” on his desire to reach Edinburgh.
Following the standoff, Anderson’s team decided to get out of the camp “as quickly as possible” as it was deemed no longer safe.
Knowles said as they got on a bus to leave, another migrant came to the door and attempted to get on, saying: “I want to go to the UK.”
Mr Anderson’s security team had to “push away” the migrant, who then moved to the front of the vehicle and started banging on it.
Knowles said the migrant was shouting: “I’m coming, I’m coming, don’t go without me.”
The Express journalist said “eventually” other migrants came over to lead the man away after what he described as “quite a startling scene”.
Knowles’ appearance on the Daily Expresso, available wherever you get your podcasts, comes as a record 230 migrants crossed the English Channel in a single boat.
People smugglers have been increasing the number of migrants crammed into boats, a tactic the Government has condemned as “reckless and dangerous”.
The Express’ Home Affairs Editor described a sense of “hostility” in the migrant camps, particularly towards women.
He added that when migrants see cameras, often the inhabitants “play up to it”.
“There is a lot of aggression there,” Knowles added.
During the Express’ visit to northern France with Mr Anderson, it was revealed migrants are being given “instruction manuals” on how to cross the Channel in dinghies and claim asylum in the UK.
Handheld leaflets available in 16 languages, including Arabic, Pashto, and Farsi, warned asylum seekers to avoid windy conditions, dodge cargo ships and stay in their boats.
Mr Anderson erupted with fury after being handed an Arabic version, adding that if a migrant wants “to make this perilous journey across Europe and to the UK, this is all you need”.