Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood took a grilling this morning by MPs in the Home Affairs Committee over small boats crossings. She admitted there is no guarantee they will come down, even by next year…
Pressed by LibDem MP Ben Maguire on whether she expected the numbers to fall by this time next year, Mahmood said:
“Those numbers are obviously not where I want to be either. These are unacceptable and the numbers need to come down. What I would say is this is a fiendishly difficult problem to resolve. I would love to be in that position. I can’t guarantee I’m going to be in that position.”
Meanwhile, there was a 13% increase in crossings last year. Mahmood discovering the job is a little trickier than a few slogans and glitzy press releases…
Police numbers have dropped dramatically under Labour, according to Home Office figures published today. In the year from September 2024 to September 2025, there were 1,318 fewer police officers on the books. And it’s not just officers taking the hit:
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said:
“This is a day of shame for Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood whose plans earlier this week had nothing to say about increasing or even maintaining overall police numbers.”
That’s despite Labour’s election pledge to recruit 13,000 extra officers by 2029. Time to rip up another page of the manifesto…
Speaking to Matt Chorley on BBC 5 Live, Shabana Mahmood was asked what the naughtiest thing she has ever done is:
“I think I took a drag on a cigarette when I was a teenager, when I shouldn’t have done, but it did trigger an asthma attack. And so I figured that was God telling me, don’t smoke.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has told the Commons she has no confidence in West Midlands Chief Constable Craig Guildford after he admitted fake AI ‘intelligence’ was used to ban Jewish fans from attending a football match last year. The results of the Inspectorate of Constabulary investigation were “damning”:
“On an issue of huge significance, we have witnessed a failure of leadership that has harmed its reputation and eroded public confidence more widely…”
Mahmood added she would reintroduce the Home Secretary’s power to sack chief constables for serious failures. For now, Guildford is “digging in”. Let’s see how long that lasts…
Starmer said to Robert Peston this afternoon:
“I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy businesses bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”