The independent MP Rupert Lowe has agreed to donate £1,000 to a charity after mistaking its rowing crew, including a former Royal Marine, for possible “illegal migrants”.
Lowe, who was elected as a Reform MP for Great Yarmouth but now sits as an independent, said he had shopped the crew to the authorities and vowed to do everything he could to have them deported if they turned out to be what he suspected
Instead, he was accused of being part of a vigilante effort after it turned out they were the four-person crew of an ocean rowing boat who were off Great Yarmouth as they attempted to row from Land’s End to John o’Groats to raise funding and awareness for motor neurone disease (MND).
Lowe, who has claimed he was ousted from Reform in March because the party’s leader, Nigel Farage, feared he was becoming too influential, posted a picture on social media on Thursday evening showing the boat near wind turbines off the Norfolk coast.
“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,” he wrote. He also demanded mass deportations.
The crew – Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley, known collectively as Row4MND – said they had been contacted by the coastguard and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby.
Bates, a Royal Navy veteran and British record holder for rowing solo across the Atlantic, said it soon became clear the coastguard was asking about his own boat. “I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us.”
After satisfying the coastguard they were who they said they were, they continued. Several hours later, however, the coastguard contacted them again because the police had “asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were”.
A friend eventually forwarded Lowe’s post to the crew, which Bates said had provided a moment of light relief. “We found it hilarious,” he said. “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.
“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.”
Lowe later posted on social media: “Good news. False alarm! The unknown vessel was charity rowers, thank goodness. As a well done to the crew, I’ll donate £1,000 to their charity – raising money for MND. Keep going, and 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. No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants!”
The crew set off from Land’s End heading for the Irish Sea, but bad weather forced them to turn back, so they headed in the opposite direction instead. They intend to row the return journey next year, from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028, with a target of raising £57m.
