Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin has faced mounting criticism after using France’s defeat in June 1940 to attack the French Government during an argument over her party’s proposed small-boats policy.
The MP for Runcorn and Helsby intervened after France said Reform UK’s proposal to use the Royal Navy to return Channel migrants without French agreement would violate French sovereignty and international law.
‘Pity the French did not show the same resolve in defending their sovereignty in June 1940.’
Pochin’s post has since received a Community Note on X highlighting the scale of French military deaths during the Battle of France. The note states that approximately 90,000 to 100,000 French soldiers were killed between May and June 1940, with around 92,000 commonly cited.
Community Notes are written and rated by participating X users. They provide crowdsourced context and should not be described as an official factual ruling by X itself. In this case, however, the note drew attention to a fundamental omission in Pochin’s taunt: France’s rapid military defeat did not mean its armed forces had shown no resolve or made no sacrifice.
Criticism from across the political spectrum
Josh Fenton-Glynn, the Labour MP for Calder Valley, responded by pointing to French losses throughout the war.
‘Over 200,000 French military personnel died fighting the Nazis in World War II, 90,000 of whom died in 1940.’
Fenton-Glynn questioned whether the post reflected ignorance of the history or disregard for those who had died.
Henry Bolton, the former UKIP leader and a former British Army officer, also rebuked Pochin directly. His criticism is notable because it did not come from Reform’s conventional opponents on the political left.
‘Sarah, we tease the French, but you are simply insulting them. France lost 92,000 servicemen dead in 1940.’
Bolton also referred to further French military and civilian deaths during the German occupation and the continuation of the war.
Conservative-aligned commentator Thomas Evans described Pochin’s intervention as a ‘cynical anecdote’ used to mock a battle in which large numbers of people died.
Political journalist Kevin Schofield shared the Community-Noted post with the brief response: ‘Dear God’.
What happened in France in 1940?
Germany invaded France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940. German forces achieved a rapid operational breakthrough, separating Allied armies and forcing British, French and Belgian troops towards the Channel coast.
France signed an armistice with Germany in June, but the six-week campaign involved extremely heavy fighting and losses. French defeat resulted from a combination of German operational success, failures of Allied command and planning, the speed of the armoured advance and the collapse of the military position—not an absence of French soldiers willing to fight.
The Imperial War Museums records that more than 338,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk, approximately one-third of them French. French forces helped defend the evacuation perimeter, while many French personnel subsequently continued the war through the Free French forces and other Allied formations.
The familiar stereotype of effortless French surrender therefore compresses a military catastrophe, enormous loss of life and years of continued French resistance into a political joke.
Why the tweet was politically reckless
Pochin’s comment was made during a live diplomatic dispute concerning Reform’s Operation Fortress. The party says a future Reform government would intercept unauthorised vessels in the Channel and return those aboard to France, including without prior French agreement.
That policy would depend on managing an intensely difficult relationship with the French Government and its law-enforcement agencies. Insulting the wartime sacrifice of the country from which cooperation would be required makes the intervention politically reckless even before its historical accuracy is considered.
It also shifted attention away from the questions facing Operation Fortress: whether forced returns could lawfully occur in French waters, how passengers would be disembarked, what would happen if French authorities refused access and whether military personnel could be ordered to undertake the operation safely.
Instead of defending the practical details of Reform’s proposal, Pochin opened a separate argument over the memory of French war dead.
No apology or clarification at time of publication
At the time of publication, Pochin’s post remained visible. We had not identified a public apology, deletion or clarification from the MP addressing either the Community Note or the criticism.
The episode follows our earlier report, Operation Fortress Sparks Anglo-French Row as Reform MPs Attack France and BBC, which examined the proposed policy and the French Government’s objection.