The new UK ambassador to Madrid, Giles Paxman, was forced to apologise to the Spanish Government after an ‘error of judgement’ by the Royal Navy off Gibraltar.
The Royal Navy were firing at a red and yellow flag attached to a buoy as they patrolled off Gibraltar. The Spanish took this as an insult to the Spanish national flag and summoned the ambassador.
The Royal Navy say the flag being peppered was, in fact, Nato’s maritime flag which, unfortunately, shares the same colours. The incident was spotted by a Guardia Civil patrol boat.
Some believe that this was just another spat between the two countries, Madrid taking revenge following an incident in May when the Royal Navy forced a Spanish naval ship to retreat after it was caught inspecting fishing vessels in British territorial waters around the colony.
The last major Royal Navy ‘error of judgement’ occurred in 2002 when 20 marines in full combat gear stormed a beach. Instead of the expected ‘stiff resistance’ to their assault by other British troops, they were confronted by bemused sunbathers and two equally bemused Spanish Local Police officers as they had failed to locate Gibraltar and had invaded La Linea in Spain.