If you believe rightwing influencers and politicians, Dover and the wider Kent coast has been the site of an “invasion” for years now. And, for an online audience of millions, they and their camera crews have been the vanguard in the nation’s defence.
Indeed, if you believe all you see on the algorithms of amateur Channel watchers, the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, braved a hail of French gunfire as he took to the water in a fishing boat this week; an attempt by the French authorities, he suggested, to deter him in his mission of highlighting the small boats crisis.
The inconvenient truth behind Philp’s attempt to self-police our borders is that nothing of the sort happened. The French government said he simply passed by a routine training exercise that involved firing live rounds.
With its sloping pebble beach and sunbathers and dog-walkers enjoying the summer sunshine by its marina this week, Dover does not look much like the frontline of a war zone. Are the rightwing figures who regularly visit the town to create social media content exploiting it for their own careers, or are they seeking solutions to a genuine problem? “They’re using Dover a bit,” said one resident, Alison Drake. “People making all these videos and that is not really doing much, is it?”
Some said that creating tension where there was none before was all part of the plan. “What they’re trying to do is play on fear with all of these stunts,” said Razia Shariff, who runs the Kent Refugee Action Network (Kran), a charity that provides education for refugee and asylum-seeking young people.
Whether or not the selfie stick-toting influencers who descend on the south coast need to capture the supposed “invasion” is, for some, a moot point.
Some of those living in the area insisted the relentless focus on the issue – and on the region – was at least keeping the problem in the public eye. “They’re letting the people know that the French are not doing anything,” Tom Armstrong said. Armstrong is avowedly anti-immigration and said the “country is being devalued” by it. He said rightwing politicians were helping that cause. “You’ve got to draw attention,” he said. Later, he added: “We’ve got to know the truth.”
Philp claimed to have been exposing the small boats crisis during his jaunt across the Channel. While Drake agreed that rightwing figures highlighting the issue might prompt action, she added: “Everyone knows about it, it’s about time they did something about it. They don’t do anything. So, it’s all very well everyone keep going on about it, but no one does anything. They know it’s happening.”
Few people have had more opportunity to solve the small boats crisis than Philp who, as immigration minister in the early ۲۰۲۰s, oversaw a sharp increase in crossings.
In contrast, organisations such as Kran are working to alleviate some of the challenges caused by the way migration has been handled by successive governments.
The young people Kran helps are taking part in a summer scheme at an academy in Kent this week. Shariff spoke glowingly of some of their predecessors’ achievements. One, she said, had arrived in the UK as a child refugee and now worked as a nurse in local hospitals. “Others have set up their own businesses against all the odds. They get on with their lives and they try.”
Carol, who lives in Dover and did not want to give her surname, suggested the focus should be more on the work of organisations such as Kran than on politicians such as Philp and Nigel Farage.
The Reform leader has repeatedly referred to small boat crossings as an “invasion”. Standing on the Dover seafront in ۲۰۲۴, he described the site as the “frontline of the great national debate on immigration”.
Carol did not recognise the picture the Reform leader painted of the town, as she stood on almost the same spot he had occupied two years ago. “I mean, look, it’s pleasant enough,” she said, nodding towards the beach.
People there were sunbathing in the warm weather, while children played in the water and others took an opportunity to go out in the sea in small vessels. “I think it is unfair that Dover is headlined in that way. Because you can sit on the beach, enjoy the area.”
Carol said it was frustrating that Dover and other nearby towns were so often used as the backdrop for social media content focusing on the small boats crisis and feared it could deter people from visiting an area that needs a lift.
“It’s a bit rundown, like many towns. It’s a bit sad. So it’s not a great place to shop, by all means, but the seafront’s lovely. And the surrounding countryside is lovely. I’m sure it isn’t helping. Dover has got that image.”
