UK Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said a man wielded a curved machete and others hurled bottles at him while he spoke to residents of an informal migrant camp near Calais on 13 August. Video posted after the incident shows Philp and a journalist retreating while objects are thrown. Philp said he travelled to northern France to investigate small-boat crossings and described the confrontation as “pretty shocking.” The episode comes amid heightened political tension over migration. More than 27,000 people have reached the UK by small boat so far this year and the opposition Conservatives accuse the Labour government of weakening deterrents by scrapping the previous Rwanda plan. Labour points instead to a new ‘one-in, one-out’ returns agreement with France and £100 million for additional anti-smuggling officers. In a separate case fuelling public concern, 32-year-old Syrian asylum seeker Mohammed Sharwarq, housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, was charged on 13 August with seven offences—including sexual assault on a man—allegedly committed between 25 July and 12 August. He was remanded to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. Sharwarq is the second resident of the hotel to face sexual-offence charges; the local council is seeking a High Court injunction to stop the building being used for migrant accommodation. The security incidents have intensified a broader media row. A BBC Radio 4 ‘Thought for the Day’ contributor described former immigration minister Robert Jenrick’s comments about men from “backward countries” as xenophobic, prompting sharp criticism from Conservative figures. Separately, social-media researchers say right-wing content creators are magnifying small-scale anti-immigrant protests, underscoring how the debate over asylum policy is increasingly fought both on the ground and online.