The ‘dirty little secret’ behind Kemi Badenoch’s support for Labour’s migrant plans
In an uncharacteristic move from Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader has supported Labour proposals on migrants in the UK in the House of Commons. Does she really back Shabana Mahmood, or is there a deeper reason to her muted praise?
Listen to this article
Read time: 4 mins
In brief…
- Kemi Badenoch has described Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood as bringing “fresh energy” to Labour in new proposals to address the number of asylum seekers entering the UK.
- Emily Maitlis says sources from both Labour and the Tories have told her the “dirty little secret” behind Badenoch’s backing - and why Mahmood’s proposal means more to the opposition than it might appear.
- But while support from the opposition benches is one thing, The News Agents say support from far-right extremists will be worrying to many Labour MPs, who may believe their party is set for the same fate as Denmark’s Social Democrats.
Shabana Mahmood is bringing “fresh energy” to the Labour government, according to Kemi Badenoch.
Yes, *that* Kemi Badenoch – leader of the Conservative Party, Labour’s opposition – who rarely has a kind word for those on rival benches inside the House of Commons, but after the Home Secretary unveiled tough new measures to tackle migrant numbers in the UK, she was on a charm offensive.
Although at times it was perhaps less charming than offensive,with Badenoch also using her time on the floor to get a dig in at Mahmood’s predecessor, Yvette Cooper.
“She is bringing fresh energy and a clearer focus to this problem, and has got more done in 70 days than her predecessor managed in a year,” Badenoch said.
“She seems to get what many on the benches behind refuse to accept, that if we fail to deal with the crisis we will draw more people to the path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.”
And that sense of hatred was evident in Mahmood’s address to the Commons, when she shared some of the racist language she has faced, as the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, on the streets of the UK.
But what was behind Badenoch’s uncharacteristic positivity, and why is it being described by Emily Maitlis as a “dirty little secret no one is really talking about”?
Is this the Tories ‘best bet’ to stop Reform UK getting into power?
It is Badenoch’s job to hold the government to account, but both Labour and the Tories are united in their dismal performance in opinion polls since the general election of 2024.
Both place behind Reform UK in every voting intention poll carried out, and in some the Green Party is also more popular than the two parties that have dominated British politics for decades.
Emily says she has been told, from sources inside both Conservatives and Labour, that both see Mahmood’s proposals as key to maintaining the UK’s two-party system, and saving their parties from the scrapheap.
“The Conservatives want to be able to back Labour, because they see a world in which, if Labour gets immigration under control, the Conservative Party will succeed Labour – whenever that time comes,” Emily reveals.
“As soon as Reform is in the door, they think that's the end of the two-party system.”
In September 2025, Tory MP Danny Kruger defected to Reform, and while no Labour MPs have made the move, it is believed some are considering jumping ship to join the Greens.
“Badenoch wants Labour to triumph with this, because it is the Conservative Party’s best bet of getting back into the place of opposition and pushing Reform out the door.”
With some Labour MPs opposing Mahmood’s plans, Lewis Goodall says it would be “embarrassing” for Labour if it had to rely on Tory votes to get its plan passed.
Has Labour left its left wing roots behind?
It’s not only the Tories who are banking on Labour succeeding with its new migrant plan, support for Mahmood’s proposals has also come from far-right activist and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson, who congratulated his own followers after her migrant plan was revealed.
In 2023, Keir Starmer told Labour members that the party had changed, was no longer a “party of protest”, and that if people didn’t like that, they could leave.
The News Agents believe the changes Starmer, and his government, has made while in power is comparable to what happened in Denmark this summer, when the Danish Social Democrats, passed hardline immigration laws to appease the rise of far-right parties.
The question that the Danish Social Democrats has had to grapple with is whether it has moved so far in that direction, that it has become the thing its members went into politics to oppose.
Lewis says the Danish party’s argument is the same one Labour is making in the UK this week, saying it aims to “drain the poison” in order to prevent toxic politics taking over.
Labour politicians are making direct comparisons to the current electoral challenges in Copenhagen right now, with the Danish Social Democrats set to lose control of the capital city, for the first time in its history, to the right-wing party it attempts to thwart with its own immigration policies.
“It didn't work out so well in the long term, did it,” says Jon Sopel.
“Those arguments will carry on in Labour, won't they? My sense is that there will be a rebellion, and Mahmood is going to have to work hard to bring them round.”