It is this attitude that is raising hopes among Labour MPs and insiders that Mahmood can get to grips with the Channel small boats crisis, which is now plaguing Sir Keir Starmer’s Government as much as it did Rishi Sunak’s or Boris Johnson’s.
Allies see Mahmood as a political “street-fighter” who “gets things done” and is now a key figure in the prospects of Starmer’s premiership, alongside Rachel Reeves, with migration to define the next election alongside the economy and cost of living.
A record 111,084 people applied for asylum in the first year of the Labour Government, while the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels rose 8 per cent to 32,059 after an escalation in Channel crossings, new data released last month revealed.
Migrants board a dinghy to cross the English Channel in Gravelines, France last month (Photo: Carl Court/Getty)
Reform is reaping the benefit – gaining a record 15-point lead over Labour according to the latest BMG poll for The i Paper, and voter unhappiness is leading to the controversy of the raising of St George’s flags in towns throughout England.
If Labour has any hope of re-election, it must get to grips with immigration.
“When she was at Justice, there was a conversation between her and a senior civil servant, who bristled and said, ‘That’s a very strong steer minister’, and Shabana’s retort was: ‘I only give strong steers’.”
A second-generation immigrant with Pakistani descendants, Mahmood grew up above her parents’ corner shop in Birmingham, an experience which gave her “traditional working-class values”.
Her social values also come from her Muslim faith, for example opposing assisted dying.
“She is small c social conservative,” the source close to the Home Secretary said.
Mahmood campaigning before the general election in her Birmingham and Ladywood constituency(Photo: Nicola Tree/Getty)Small state view
But Mahmood also has a “small state view” partly inspired by her upbringing as a second-generation immigrant growing up above the shop where it was important to run a tight budget.
“But there is something about counting the pennies and the pounds will count themselves about the way that she sees the state, and therefore is concerned by the degree to which the Civil Service has grown and the feeling among the public that we are spending more and more but getting less and less.”
As a result of all this, Mahmood is often seen as part of the Blue Labour movement.
“I think her instincts come from voters, from working people.
The ally added: “There is part of Shabana that is a little bit more populist, her approach will not be based on left-right ideology, it will be based on what is going to work.
Shabana Mahmood, right, replaced Yvette Cooper, left, as Home Secretary (Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Getty)
A Labour MP and ally of Mahmood added: “The difference between Yvette and Shabana is Yvette had, rightfully or wrongfully, a reputation for not being as decisive and that’s not what you’ll get from Shabana.
Mahmood’s moral case for tackling migration
But sources suggested that perhaps Mahmood’s defining difference as Home Secretary to Cooper is that she feels the moral case for gripping the Channel crisis differently, including a deep concern for the safety of Britons with an immigrant background if social consent for incoming migration frays.
“She’s also got a strong sense that people like her are not safe in a country that doesn’t have secure borders – to have community cohesion we need secure borders, and if you don’t then everybody [from an immigrant background] no matter who they are, or how long ago their family moved here, are more at risk in a society that starts to turn on itself.”
As well as looking at international conventions, Mahmood is going to attempt to accelerate the Government’s plan to close asylum hotels – the visible flashpoint of the Channel crisis that so anger voters.
A protest camp outside RAF Scampton on 6 February, 2024 in Scampton. Mahmood is considering re-opening the base for housing migrants (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty)
Opening up military sites and changing treaties
The Home Secretary is not yet thinking about a new deadline but is working with the Ministry of Defence to open up military sites as asylum accommodation, and will have a better idea of the capacity to move people out of hotels once that work is finished.
Mahmood is also looking to expand the one-in, one-out returns deal with France and strike similar agreements with other countries.
“She starts with ‘we are going to fix this’ rather than ‘these are the constraints’,” one “Red Wall” MP said.
Others think Mahmood will be better equipped to take the political fight to Farage and Reform on the airwaves, after proving she can convince the public that Labour has a plan to tackle dire problems with her prisoner early release scheme to ease jail overcrowding, launched quickly after the election without Labour taking too much political damage.
The ally said the Home Secretary can take a similar approach to asylum hotels.
The MP who called for a faster timeline to close asylum hotels added: “Shabana is a fighter; and someone who take the fight to the Tories and Reform – because she gets the politics in a way Yvette didn’t.”
She has proven key to the leader’s election chances before, as a national campaign co-ordinator in opposition, that was kept in the role for longer than she liked because “she was so important to the internal party operation, she sat at the nexus of all the parties’ internal avenues and alleyways and essentially was the political fixer”.
And she is once again set to take on a key role.
Then-justice secretary Shabana Mahmood gives a speech during the Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Guildhall in central London in December (Photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP)The source close to the Home Secretary added: “It’s a huge responsibility being home secretary at any time, but it’s obviously a huge responsibility now.
Her role is a ‘poisoned chalice’
However, a party insider warned the role “could be a poisoned chalice” given how tricky a problem the Channel crisis is.
Some even tout Mahmood as a future leadership contender, at a time when the Prime Minister’s position is being increasingly questioned in Labour ranks.
An MP said: “Shabana is a political machine in her own right, she’s actually very astute and is very self-aware, she doesn’t suffer fools and is refreshingly very clear about her values and convictions, she’s congruent and in this day and age that gives her a leadership edge as people want clarity.”
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