"I am the one that is regularly called a f***ing P***"
Shabana Mahmood turned the air blue in the House of Commons when she swore whilst revealing that she suffers racist abuse in the street.
As she defended her asylum reforms, the Home Secretary said the scale of hostility shows how deeply migration is dividing Britain.
Mahmood faced accusations of “stoking division” as she unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the asylum system.
The plan has prompted anger across Labour, with senior figures warning it risks fracturing the party.
After her approach was criticised by Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson, Mahmood replied:
“I wish I had the privilege of walking around this country and not seeing the division that the issue of migration and asylum system is creating across this country.
“Unlike him, unfortunately, I am the one that is regularly called a f***ing P*** and told to go back home.
“It is I who knows, through my personal experience and that of my constituents, just how divisive the issue of asylum has become in our country.
“And I do say to him, I wish it were possible to say that there isn’t a problem here, that there’s nothing to see, and that it is all, in fact, just extremist Right-wing talking points, but this system is broken.”
Deputy Speaker Caroline Nokes asked her to apologise for the “unacceptable” language.
Shabana Mahmood responded: “I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker. I did not mean any discourtesy. I was merely reflecting the truth of words that are used to me.”
Mahmood’s statement echoed comments made in 2020 by Dame Priti Patel, when she said she had been “frequently called a P*** in the playground” as a child.
Although Mahmood’s strong language caused a stir, it is not the first time profanity has been used in the House of Commons.
Scottish National Party MP Mhairi Black was reprimanded in 2023 by Deputy Speaker Rosie Winterton after she claimed Tories were “pished” – a Scottish slang term meaning drunk – during the Covid lockdown.
During a 2016 debate, MP Michael Fabricant shouted “b*****ks” at a pro-EU colleague.
Watch Shabana Mahmood’s Comment. Warning – Explicit Language
? WATCH: Shabana Mahmood rebuts a Lib Dem MP who accuses her of using divisive rhetoric on the new asylum reforms
“Unlike him, I am the one that is regularly called a fucking Paki and told to go back home” pic.twitter.com/AfhBywBhrL
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) November 17, 2025
The Home Office later released a 33-page document titled Restoring Order and Control.
The paper outlined a series of measures intended to speed up removals and reshape asylum rights. Its publication deepened Labour’s internal rift.
MPs criticised the reforms as “dystopian”.
Several Labour figures signalled they would oppose the legislation. Former frontbencher Richard Burgon said ministers were “scraping the bottom of the barrel”, calling the plan a “desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform”.
He predicted ministers would abandon the policy “within months”.
Nadia Whittome, another prominent Left-wing MP, said it was “shameful” for Labour to pursue “such obviously cruel policies”.
The blueprint proposes making refugee status temporary.
Reviews will take place every two and a half years, and renewal will not be guaranteed. Labour also plans to abolish the legal duty to provide taxpayer-funded support to asylum seekers.
The document said the Home Office will begin deporting families of failed asylum seekers.
It highlighted a “particularly perverse” situation in which some individuals “exploit the fact that they have had children… in order to thwart removal”.
Failed asylum seekers could also receive higher voluntary return payments. The Home Office is exploring “increased incentive payments” above the current £3,000. Officials declined to confirm potential costs to the taxpayer.
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