A charity rowing team was contacted by the coastguard near Great Yarmouth after Rupert Lowe, who was elected as a Reform UK MP but now sits as an Independent, mistakenly thought they were “illegal migrants”.
Mr Lowe had posted a photo on Instagram on Thursday night showing a boat near wind turbines off the Norfolk coast. He wrote: “Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. 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.”
However, according to The Telegraph, the vessel in question was actually an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four raising money for motor neurone disease (MND) by rowing from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
The crew – Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley – said the coastguard contacted them and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby. Mike Bates, a former Royal Marine and British record holder for solo rowing across the Atlantic, said it quickly became clear that the coastguard was referring to their own boat.
“I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals on the shoreline staring at us,” he said.
There were no migrants
After reassuring the coastguard that they were not carrying migrants, the team carried on with their journey. However, several hours later, they were contacted again when police asked if a lifeboat could be sent out to check who they were.
Eventually, a friend sent Mr Bates a screenshot of Mr Lowe’s post, which he said gave them “a moment of light relief”. He added: “We found it hilarious. I’ve not been mistaken for a migrant before. 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.”
He continued: “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.”
‘Resolve and resilience’
The team had set off from Land’s End on July 25 and initially headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven in Wales. They then returned to Land’s End and began again heading in the other direction – an experience Mr Bates described as “about us showing resolve and resilience and hope”.
Their journey is just the first of four challenges over four years. The group aim to row from John O’Groats to Land’s End next year, then from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028, with an ambitious goal of raising £57 million for MND research.
So far, ROW4MND have raised £107,515 for their cause.
Mr Bates said: “We’re rowing for hope, we’re rowing to find a cure, and hopefully we’ll raise £57 million. We certainly will if MPs keep talking about us. Maybe Rupert will give us a donation.”