The former commander who led the British land campaign to liberate the Falklands has sparked outrage after saying that migrant boats crossing the English Channel should be targeted with machine-gun fire.
‘I would shoot them,’ Major-General Julian Thompson said in a documentary examining mass immigration to Britain.
The Home Office warned that anyone who took the law into their own hands could face ‘serious criminal consequences’. The Conservatives also said that ‘opening fire on migrant boats would be completely wrong’.
Maj Gen Thompson, 92, who commanded 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands War, was speaking about the thousands of migrants arriving on UK shores each month. ‘We could stop them tomorrow if we really had the guts. I’d shoot them, sorry, but I would,’ he said.
When contacted by The Mail on Sunday, Maj Gen Thompson clarified that he believed the gunfire should be directed at the boats rather than the people on board.
Asked whether he expected a backlash over his comments, Maj Gen Thompson replied: ‘As long as they don’t come around here, I don’t mind what they do.
‘They come over here and rape our girls. One machine-gun blast is all it would take… then they would get the message. I just want them to bugger off.’
‘If they [the Government] don’t stop them then there will be a revolution. Our leaders are just wet.’
Major-General Julian Thompson has caused a furore by saying that boats carrying migrants across the Channel should be machine-gunned
Maj Gen Thompson told a documentary about mass immigration to Britain: ‘We could stop them tomorrow if we really had the guts. I’d shoot them, sorry, but I would’
Maj Gen Thompson with the then Prince Charles after leading the land operation to liberate the Falklands in 1982
Maj Gen Thompson made the remarks to journalist Steven Edginton for a documentary due to be broadcast on Mr Edginton’s YouTube channel this weekend.
More than 20,000 small-boat migrants have arrived so far this year, a figure 40 per cent lower than during the same period in 2025.
The number of people travelling on each vessel has nevertheless risen, with an average of 67 migrants aboard every boat.
Maj Gen Thompson joined the Royal Marines in 1952 and served for 34 years. After retiring, he wrote numerous books on military history.
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He commanded the ground forces involved in Operation Sutton, the amphibious landings at San Carlos Water in May 1982. The operation secured a beachhead on East Falkland despite heavy attacks from Argentine aircraft.
On the eve of the battle, he appeared aboard HMS Fearless holding the paper authorising the operation. He told his troops: ‘Gentlemen, here we go.’
During the YouTube interview, Maj Gen Thompson described the Islamic beliefs held by many migrants as ‘a flawed religion, in that women are totally out. They can be treated like chattels, and children the same’.
He also said Britain was ‘just going downhill’, adding: ‘I’m glad I won’t see it, I’ll be dead.
‘It’s not Britain any more, it’s a sort of funny conglomeration of people, and in a wet country that allows itself to be pushed around all over the place.’
Baroness Thatcher shaking hands with Major General Thompson at the opening of the Imperial War Museum Exhibition on the Falklands War in 2007
Major General Thompson led the land operation to liberate the Falklands. Pictured: Survivors of the RFA Sir Galahad air attack coming ashore in life rafts at San Carlos Bay, as the supply ship blazes in the background
Maj Gen Thompson aboard the Canberra as she returned from the Falklands and sailed into Southampton
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Opening fire on migrant boats would be completely wrong.
‘I understand people’s anger at migrant crossings but we cannot shoot at people. There is another way to end this.
‘If the French won’t stop the boats near the shore then the British Government should deport every illegal immigrant within a week of arrival.
‘This requires us to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which the Conservative borders plan does, but the Labour Government is too weak to do.
‘Instead of being deported on arrival, illegal immigrants get put up in hotels and flats. This has to end.’
A Home Office spokesman said last night: ‘This Government is bearing down on dangerous and illegal crossings.
‘Anyone who seeks to take the law into their own hands is putting lives at risk and will face serious criminal consequences.’