Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has accused Reform leader Nigel Farage of sending dangerous ‘dog whistle’ messages to racists – saying he ‘knows what he’s doing’
Nigel Farage is deliberately sending dangerous ‘dog whistle’ messages to racists, Labour’s new Home Secretary claimed in a blistering attack on the Reform leader.
Shabana Mahmood described Mr Farage’s actions as “much worse than racism” at a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference. She accused Mr Farage of choosing his words so he has “plausible deniability” – but said he “knows what he’s doing”.
Ms Mahmood revealed she has suffered sleepless nights because of the sickening racism her family members have faced in recent weeks. Asked by former Tory minister Michael Gove about Mr Farage, the Home Secretary said: “He’s blowing a very, very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country. And I think that means he can always sort of take plausible deniability…
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“He’ll say, well, it will apply to white people as well as non-white people. Technically, that will be true. But he also knows he sent a very clear signal to every racist with the language that those who have made their homes in this country come from other places, they have their status ripped up.
“And once you go down that road, why would you stop at indefinite leave to remain?” Last week Mr Farage announced plans to end indefinite leave to remain (ILR), even for those who have been granted permanent status.
Ms Mahmood: “I think he (Mr Farage) 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.”
She said: “Members of my own family, just in the last couple of weeks, you know, have been called a f***** p*** in Birmingham in places that I go to regularly… I can’t pretend that it doesn’t make me have sleepless nights.”
Ms Mahmood recounted being racially abused as a child, saying “it does create a reaction, and it does make your world smaller”. She stated: “This is my home…. I haven’t got anywhere else in the world to go back to. This is it for me.”
The Home Secretary said politicians have a responsibility to “chart a different course for the country” and provide a “route back for people”.
In a keynote speech outlining her priorities, Ms Mahmood pledged to get tough on migration, saying voters will be seduced by the “false promises” of Reform if Labour fails to get a grip.
She announced a string of measures making it harder to be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK – saying contribution to society will be a condition to stay.
And she pledged to do “whatever it takes” to secure the UK’s borders and tackle small boat crossings. Ms Mahmood said that 150,000 people attending a Tommy Robinson-organised march in London highlighted deep divisions.
She said some were “heirs to the skinheads and p***-bashers of old”, but added: “To dismiss what happened that day would be to ignore something bigger, something broader, that is happening across this country.”
She said if Britain’s borders are not secured, division will get worse. Ms Mahmood stated: “Patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller.
“Something more like ethno-nationalism, which struggles to accept that someone who looks like me, and has a faith like mine, can truly be English or British.
“There are some who we will never be able to persuade. But there are others, a growing number, who are on a path from patriotism towards ethno-nationalism, and this can be stopped.
“But to do so, we have to understand why so many people feel this country is not working for them.” She said the scale of immigration has “frayed trust and eroded public confidence”, accusing the Tories of a “rank betrayal”.
She said contribution “is a condition” of being welcomed to the UK. The Home Secretary announced the time someone must have lived in the country before claiming indefinite leave to remain will go up from five years to 10.
She said there will be a string of new tests – including being in work, making national insurance contributions, not claiming benefits, learning English, having no criminal record and giving back to communities.
The latter could include volunteering, Ms Mahmood stated.
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