Daniel Thomas filmed himself on a live stream appearing to slash a dinghy carrying a rescue worker in the middle of the English Channel.

The nationalist activist, who has crowdfunded his own speedboat to intercept migrant dinghies arriving in the UK, took out a blade on Tuesday.

Debris and life jackets in the boat appear to show that migrants had previously been on board after making the trip from France in calm waters.

Shouting at the rescue workers conducting final checks on the empty dinghy, he said: ‘You are not using these boats. No more migrants in our country. No way!’

He shouts: ‘This is England you are not in France anymore. Get off the boat. You have time to get off the boat. This is not France. No more of thiswe pay you money. Let’s go.

‘Try and take that back to France – you traitors!

He then speeds off.

A boat he had previously bought using funds from his supporters had sunk while still dockside.

He was previously seen eating a chocolate bar and shouting at a large naval carrier.

Speeding towards the spot, he told his stream: ‘We can’t even let our kids go to the park. What kind of life is that?’

The French coastguard said around 60 migrants on a small boat which has spent more than 33 hours at sea ‘in precarious conditions’ refused help as they were ‘determined to take all risks to reach the United Kingdom’.

Protesters rallied around Gosport to prevent the migrants from landing in the UK.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said that it had sent officers to Gosport and Portsmouth ‘in the event of any emergency at sea’ and to ‘facilitate any peaceful protest’.

The force added: ‘The boat and those on board are no longer in our force area.

‘We know a small number of people have been following proceedings today and have come out to Gosport and Portsmouth.

‘As we start to stand down the police operation, please be assured that officers will remain in those areas this evening while people leave the area and to maintain public safety.’

Daniel Thomas – who goes by the nickname Danny Tommo – is often referred to as the English Defence League (EDL) co-founder’s right-hand man and launched the far-right group behind the riots, Patriot Platform, this summer.

Thomas previously worked as a tank driver for the King’s Royal Hussars, an armoured regiment of the British Army.

He is understood to have been discharged on medical grounds without having performed any active service.

He served two years in prison in 2016 for breaking into a man’s house brandishing knives, accusing the owner of having stolen £10,000 of drugs from him.

Following his spell behind bars, he claims to have turned to God and Christianity, with his X bio referring to ‘trusting in Jesus Christ’ and posts quoting Bible passages.

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