Nick Ferrari skewers LBC caller with four-word rant over small boat crisis

LBC radio star Nick Ferrari certainly didn't mince his words as he shut down one enraged caller live on air. During Monday's instalment (August 4) of his morning radio show, the 66-year-old broadcaster took calls in from listeners up and down the country on some of the biggest issued facing the nation. Arguably, one of the biggest stories getting the country riled up is the ongoing migrant crisis.

The number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has reached an all-time high as of August 1. More than 25,000 illegal immigrants have travelled to the UK, higher than any other year on record, in a major blow to Labour PM Keir Starmer.

At the start of the show, the dad-of-two took a call from Malcolm, who offered an alternative option the French border offices could use to prevent migrants from making the deadly journey.

He began: "Recently, we've seen a super powerful French police officer popping up on national TV in Britain. Guess what he did once? He went up to an inflatable boat and slashed it with a knife. Well, that's the solution."

Nick countered with: "Yeah, but how many times has that happened, Malcolm? How many times has it happened since? Zero." Determined to get his point across, the caller insisted: "Just hold on, let me get my point across.

"The key point to recognise is that the politicians are using all kinds of distractive mechanisms to alter the fact that there is a relatively simple solution."

Nick pointed out that border control officers are prohibited from destroying inflatable boats if the water is above waist height. He explained: "Currently, they are prohibited from slashing those boats if the water is above waist high for fear of drowning.

"They're not going to do it. I agree with you, Malcolm, but they're not going to do it." The caller snapped back with: "How do you know what they're going to do if it's up to them?"

The broadcaster explained: "I've just told you, the laws won't let them. The laws won't let them, if a Gendarme or a French border force does slash their boats in open water above waist height and someone drowns, he or she will go to jail. That's why they won't do it, Malcolm."

The listener insisted: "I'll explain to you the legal basis for doing it, which is that they are preventing the possibility of those people in those inflatable boats from drowning."

It was at this point that Nick began to lose his temper with Malcolm, forcing him to interrupt his argument with a correction. He fumed: "Are you not listening? I've just told you there are regulations that prohibit the French border guards from slashing the boats if the water is above waist high.

"They are not allowed to do it. Come on, use your brain! They won't do it." It didn't take long before fans flooded to social media to share their frustrations online.

One user chuckled: "Malcolm just made up his own law [cry-laughing emoji] We are talking about human beings for goodness sake [angry emoji] Create safe routes not popping boats."

Another agreed: "Popping a boat isn't a solution, it just slows things down. These circumstances are far more complex than just that.

"It is a humanitarian crisis that will need far more intricate ways of improvising things, it is why we see Reform gaining ground. They just say 'Stop the boats' but never have solutions to the broader issue."

Meanwhile, a third argued: "Slash the boats while they are on land, they know where they are, then they couldn't get into the water in the first place!"