Former Mumford & Sons Guitarist Wants Explosive Mines to Stop Channel Crossings

Winston Marshall is the son of the investor who owns GB News and the Spectator.

by Sophia Sheera

1 May 2026

Dena Flows

The former lead guitarist of folk rock band Mumford & Sons said Britain should build a mine-laden “floating wall” to stop migrants crossing the Channel. 

On April 25, Winston Marshall told Fox News that the best way to stop “military-aged men” who are “economic migrants” entering Britain is to “build a giant wall”. 

“We could build a floating wall, that’s mined, across the Channel,” Marshall hypothesised last week. 

The Dover Strait, the narrowest part of the Channel, is the busiest shipping lane in the world. 

Marshall is the son of media baron Paul Marshall, the hedge fund investor and media baron who co-owns GB News and owns the Spectator and UnHerd. 

Marshall left Mumford & Sons in 2021 to avoid “self-censoring” after the band faced criticism for his beliefs. In the same year, the banjo player publicly praised rightwing US influencer Andy Ngo, whose book on antifa has been slammed for inaccuracy by journalists and described by the LA Times as “supremely dishonest”. 

Marshall has since rebranded as a rightwing influencer, hosting a podcast on the Spectator and launching his own podcast in 2024. 

Sophia Sheera is a journalist in Novara Media’s social media team.

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