Founded by wedding DJ Jeremy Davis in August 2020, Little Boats was created during a period of heightened mainstream focus on migrants and was set up, ostensibly, as an anti-migrant vigilante group to patrol the Kent coastline confronting migrants. The group has previously referred to itself as a “flotilla” and has been aligned with Steve Laws, the former For Britain member and “migrant hunter”. Little Boats takes its name from the Little Ships of Dunkirk, hundreds of private boats which sailed across the Channel to rescue Allied forces stranded on Dunkirk beach during WWII.

Whilst it has claimed previously to have engaged in night patrols in the English Channel, these days it is essentially a social media operation manned by Davis which shares generic anti-migrant and anti-Islam content. Its supporters regularly post about the supposed “invasion” of Britain.

Offline in 2023 it appeared to achieve nothing of note, however online it still retains a fairly sizeable presence. For a time, Little Boats disseminated a map of migrant accommodation to be targeted for harassment, but this quickly became out of date and superseded by other organisations. In August, the group appeared to be changing tack, as Davis suggested that “Quisling institutions” assisting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants would be targeted by Little Boats activists in a spree of direct action. In the end, the sum of this direct action amounted to blocking the telephone switchboard of an immigration law firm for an hour.