Shabana Mahmood revealed members of her own family were called “f****** p***s” as she branded Nigel Farage “worse than racist”. The Home Secretary warned that “anti-Muslim hatred” is “off the charts” and “much more pervasive” than ever.
And she revealed her own family was targeted by racist yobs during a visit to a park in Small Heath, Birmingham. Ms Mahmood, speaking to Spectator editor Michael Gove hours after her Labour Party conference speech, also accused Mr Farage of sending a “very clear signal to racists” while giving himself “plausible deniability”, adding that he is “worse than racist”. She also sensationally revealed the Home Office is not yet fully "fit for purpose" as she vowed to fight the Civil Service to carry out her will.
She said: “I think the levels of anti-Muslim hatred at the moment are off the charts.
“It's at a scale that I've never known in my lifetime.
“And you know, when I was a child, I think I was seven or eight years old, that was the first time I heard the word “p***" in the school playground.
“So, it's not as if I haven't been racially used before.
“I'm Muslim, and it's not like I haven't faced hatred.
“But what is happening now is something much deeper and much more pervasive, and it does feel like it's everywhere at the moment.
“Members of my own, just in the last couple of weeks, have been called f****** p***s in Birmingham, in places that I go to regularly with my family, where we hang out and I can't pretend to you that it doesn't make me have sleepless nights.
"There's some parts of Birmingham. I'm sort of second-guessing whether I can go back to again."
Sir Keir Starmer’s party has slumped in the polls after a landslide 14 months ago, with the migrant crisis largely to blame.
During that time, Reform UK has seen its popularity surge.
An Ipsos poll last week put Reform on 34% support, Labour at 22%, and the Tories on just 14%.
Mr Farage last week vowed to force non-EU migrants to reapply for visas and abolish their settlement rights.
Asked if the policy was racist, Ms Mahmood said: “I actually think it's a little bit worse than racist.
“If it was racist, in a funny way, it would be easier to deal with.
“I think it's immoral, and I think it's extreme, and I think Nigel Farage is playing the trick that I think he tries to play very regularly, which is he will say something that, technically he can say is not racist, but what he really knows is he's doing a very, very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country.
“And I think that means he can always sort of claim plausible deniability and say, well, you know, technically, my policy on ILR, for example, indefinite to remain completely in this country for many years would apply to white people, as well as non-white people.
“And technically that would be true.
“But he also knows he has sent a very clear signal to every racist in the land, that those who have made their homes in this country, who come from other places, might one day have their status ripped up.
“And once you go down that road, of course, why would you stop at indefinite need to remain?
“Why wouldn’t you say it to Brits born in other parts of the world for who made their lives here, have a British passport to our citizens and nationals just like us.
“I think he knows exactly what he's doing, and it's a much more cynical, much more dangerous form of politics. I think it's much, much worse than racism.”
And Ms Mahmood sensationally admitted the Home Office is not fit for purpose to end Britain’s migration crisis.
She said: “Believe you me, a few lawyers have had a hair dryer for me in the first couple of weeks in this job, and I think there'll be a bit more of that to come.
“I don't think it's fully fit for purpose yet.
"[There is work ongoing] making sure that the Home Office is fighting fit on every front, so making sure you've got the right people and the right internal systems.
“That's going to be a big job of work to do. And since I've been in public, a lot of people have told me about all the issues they've had with the Home Office.
“It is about the culture as well. And when I came into the Home Office, I always bring my ‘A game’ to the table. That's the answer I have for myself, wherever I am, I have to do nothing less than 100% and I expect the same as all
“And that is my ask for everyone.
“They work quick, and they've got to work to the political position and trajectory that I am setting.
“And if I've asked for something, I expect it to be produced. And it's fine to tell me I can't do exactly what I want, but it has to be sound scrutiny, and I have to get scrutinised.
“So, I think at the moment, it's not set up to really allow the politician to add the value that only the politician can add, and that's something I've got to obviously make sure doesn't happen.
“I don’t think it is fully fit for purpose yet.”
The new Home Secretary said foreign arrivals will have to work, make National Insurance contributions, learn English to a “high” standard, have a clean criminal record and give back to their communities to earn indefinite leave to remain.
And migrants will be forced to wait 10 years before they can apply, double the current time limit.
While these changes will not be applied retrospectively amid concerns over the Boris-wave, Ms Mahmood is considering separate changes to cover the 1.3million people who arrived between 2021 and 2024, it is understood.
Research by the Centre for Policy Studies has predicted as many as 800,000 of this cohort will get ILR.
Some 1,235,254 people moved to the UK in the 12 months to June 2024 while 496,536 emigrated.
This accounted for 98% of the UK’s overall increase in population across this period.
The Office for National Statistics revealed the population grew by 755,254 in the year to June 2024, the second-highest year on record. The previous record was set a year before – 890,049.
Net migration hit a staggering record of 906,000 in the year to June 2023, following an increase of 607,000.
As many as 800,000 could apply for indefinite leave to remain – and get access to benefits, the NHS and social homes – after they have lived in the UK for five years.
