Labour’s Transport Secretary has been grilled by GB News host Alex Armstrong over the “disgraceful” lack of apology from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood following a joke about the Government’s early prison release scheme.
Heidi Alexander was shut down by Alex as she attempted to defend Ms Mahmood and Defence Secretary Wes Streeting for joking Justice Minister Alex Norris wants to “let them all out”.
Captured in a hot-mic moment, Mr Streeting can be heard saying of Mr Norris: “You know he’s the enemy now, Justice Shabana?”
Ms Mahmood replied “no he’s not”, to which the Defence Secretary then swiped: “He wants to let them all out.”
Issuing her response to the interaction, Ms Mahmood wrote on social media: “I think everyone can see there was no ill intent behind this ribbing of the new Lord Chancellor – a role I once filled and which comes with immense challenges thanks to the vandalism inflicted on our justice system by the last Conservative Government.
“But I appreciate this is an extremely serious issue and do not want anyone to mistake this moment of levity for a lack of serious intent.”
Mr Streeting also took to social media to apologise for his remarks, writing: “I hope everyone can see there was no ill intent behind this ribbing of the new justice secretary – it was a reference to an old May/Clarke joke,” the defence secretary said in a post on X.
“But I appreciate these are very serious issues and am sorry for any offence inadvertently caused by this moment of levity.”
Defending both Ms Mahmood and Mr Streeting, Ms Alexander told GB News: “Wes has apologised for those remarks. I know Wes well and I also worked with Shabana Mahmood.
“What I would say is that I don’t think these remarks reflect the seriousness with which either of those politicians address issues relating to the criminal justice system or the prison system.”
Arguing they were confronted with a “difficult scenario” left by the Tories, she continued: “When we entered Government in the summer of 2024, there were days when we had about 100 places left on the prison estate.
“And if it dropped below that, you reach a point where the judges can’t sentence in the courts and the police can’t arrest people. So no responsible Government would have allowed that situation to continue.”
Pushing back on Ms Alexander’s remarks, host Ellie Costello hit back: “You have just done the same thing that Shabana Mahmood has said in her post on social media and used it as an opportunity to attack the Tories for the inheritance that you took on?
“We’re not denying that the prisons were in crisis, but this needed to be an opportunity for a wholehearted apology, did it not? To the victims and the victims families, not an opportunity to score political points.”
The Labour minister told GB News: “I think an apology has been made. I think it is really important that your viewers understand what the context of decisions that Government has taken are. I wasn’t seeking to score political points, I was setting out some basic facts of the matter.”
Challenging Ms Alexander further, Alex stressed this is “not the change” Britons were promised from new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
He said: “This is obfuscation, right? Shabana Mahmood has not apologised. I have read her her message on X that is remarkably similar to the Defence Secretary’s. It seems almost like they’re cut copy and paste quite frankly. And blaming the Conservatives when she has not apologised frankly is disgraceful and I think she should actually come out to make a proper apology.
“Andy Burnham says we haven’t been good enough – this to the British public is not good enough, is it? This is not the change they were told, this is the same old stuff. It’s been less than 48 hours, and there’s already a scandal. When is this Government going to grow up?”
Ms Alexander assured GB News viewers: “As I said, Wes has apologised and those remarks do not reflect the seriousness with which I know personally.
“Shabana Mahmood, the now Home Secretary, takes these issues seriously. She’s the sort of person who will confront difficult decisions. No one is pretending that the situation in our prisons was an easy one to manage.”
