Disgraced ex-Reform MP back looking for small boats in Yarmouth after accidentally reporting charity rowing crew

Home Office data shows no small boats have come near the Yarmouth coast since records began

In an embarrassing gaffe, the independent MP for Great Yarmouth posted a furious tweet earlier this month about “dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth RIGHT NOW.”

Sharing a picture of a boat off the shore, Lowe said: “Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure individuals are deported.”

“Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW.”

But it turned out that the boat was in fact a charity rowing crew, who were subsequently radioed by the coastguard to say they had been “reported as a migrant boat.”

One of the crew members, Matthew Parker, told the BBC they were then followed along the coast by a “group of people with torches obviously waiting for us to land.”

After a slating online, you’d think this might be the end of his activities on the Yarmouth coast but no…

“Vigilantly testing out the new office binoculars – all clear today, thankfully,” he wrote on X.

“Our constituency can sleep easy tonight…”

And when one user asked, “How is this not a parody?”, Lowe replied: “You are an idiot.”

When asked by Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok how many asylum seekers arrived to the UK via the Great Yarmouth coast specifically since a) July 2024 b) since records began, it replied: “Based on UK Home Office data and news reports, no irregular migrant arrivals by boat have been recorded via the Great Yarmouth coast.

“a) Since July 2024: 0

“b) Since records began (2018 for small boats): 0

“All small boat crossings occur in the English Channel to the south coast.”

The MP previously claimed he had received a “huge number of urgent complaints from constituents”, adding: “I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis. No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants!”