A Labour source has slammed Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp for having a "brass neck to act as though he is just learning" about the migrant crisis by going to France, claiming the issue "exploded under his watch".
The source told GB News that when "Philp became Immigration Minister in February 2020, only 2,400 people had crossed the Channel in small boats, and there were just ten asylum hotels in operation".
"By the time he left that job 19 months later, 25,500 people had crossed the Channel," the source added.
"And there were 149 asylum hotels in place."
The source further claimed that the migrant crisis "exploded under his watch".
"Yet he now has the brass neck to act as though he is just learning about it for the first time," they said.
It comes after Philp claimed he had a knife pulled on him as he talked to migrants in Calais today.
Chris Philp in Calais on Wednesday morning
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Chris Philp before trying to speak to migrants living in the camps
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The Conservative MP told GB News that he had been walking around the camp trying to interact with some of the people living there.
It was then when a "curved machete" was pulled out.
He attempted to leave before claiming the migrants "pelted" him and his team with glass bottles in what he described as a "very unsettling encounter".
Speaking shortly after, Philp said he had only been talking to migrants "literally about 10 or 15 minutes ago".
Chris Philp walking around Calais
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"First of all, as I was talking to some migrants, another one pulled out a curved machete and started brandishing it, at which point we left pretty quickly," he said.
"And then as we were leaving, we got pelted with glass bottles.
And as we drove off other bottles got thrown at the car."
Philp was asked whether there were any French police officers at the camp, but said, "not that I could see".
The Shadow Home Secretary said that he had his own security and "everyone got out safely".
Philp had been walking around a camp just outside of Dunkirk, and had claimed that there were two nationalities in the camp "Eritreans and Afghans."
He claimed that he pointed out to one man, who he had seen wearing a lifejacket, that crossing The Channel was illegal and the man had responded: "I don't care."
The MP told Britain's News Channel: "They've heard about the hotels that the Government are going to put them in.
"They talked about the fact it's easy to work in the UK. You know, presumably that's a reference to the Deliveroo scandal," he said.
"These people could easily claim asylum in France if they wanted to. But they're choosing to illegally make these crossings instead.
"I'm not sure people who pull knives, these people are on their way to the UK in the dinghies.
"And we were certainly pretty seriously threatened just a few minutes ago."