Man who heckled Shabana Mahmood dismisses ‘laughable’ white liberal claim

Joe said: ‘She’s calling me, a person of colour, a white liberal. But what she’s doing is incredibly illiberal.’ Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The GuardianView image in fullscreenJoe said: ‘She’s calling me, a person of colour, a white liberal. But what she’s doing is incredibly illiberal.’ Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The GuardianShabana MahmoodMan who heckled Shabana Mahmood dismisses ‘laughable’ white liberal claimProtester says he migrated from Malaysia as a child and describes home secretary’s immigration policies as cruel UK politics live – latest updates Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent Tue 28 Apr 2026 08.48 EDTLast modified on Tue 28 Apr 2026 09.23 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleA protester who heckled Shabana Mahmood said he came to the UK as a child from Malaysia, describing the home secretary’s claim that he was a “white liberal” as “laughable”.Joe, 32, who did not wish to give his last name, migrated from Malaysia at the age of four with his family. He said the home secretary’s proposed immigration rule changes would have left him, and thousands of children like him, in limbo.“Imagine being a child growing up and not knowing whether you’re going to be deported out of this country?” he said.Mahmood told “white liberal” hecklers to “fuck right off” during a live interview in central London last week, after protesters accused her of copying the policies of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK during an on-stage event.Joe had told the home secretary he wanted to “personally thank you for out-Reforming Reform” before being escorted out of the room. Two other audience members shouted “refugees welcome” as he was removed by security.The protesters were part of Green New Deal Rising (GND Rising), a UK youth-led climate campaign focused on engaging politicians to secure radical environmental policies. Footage from the action shows the room was dark. The campaign has released a tool, “My Map”, to support progressive candidates in the local elections, in a twin bid to tackle the climate crisis and fight the far right.Joe pointed to recent statistics suggesting 90,000 vulnerable young people could be kept in poverty by Mahmood’s proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain (ILR). “It’s just cruel. And it comes from the fact that the Labour party is so desperate to get the heat off of their backs because they’re so unpopular.”He added: “They’re willing to throw migrants under the bus to try to pander to Reform voters rather than actually trying to make any material change to their lives that would help ease the cost of living crisis and reduce inequality in this country.”View image in fullscreenShabana Mahmood during a live interview with comedian Matt Forde at the Duchess theatre in London’s West End last week, where she was heckled by Joe. He told the home secretary he wanted to personally thank her ‘for out-Reforming Reform’. Photograph: @ShabanaMahmoodMahmood told the comedian Matt Forde’s The Political Party podcast at the Duchess theatre, London, that claims she was chasing Reform votes were “just a way of delegitimising the point of view that I bring to the table”.She told Forde there was an aspect of racism to the claims. “I do think there is that element of it, which is: ‘How dare you, a brown woman, say a thing that we white liberals think you’re not allowed to say?’ Well I’m saying it.”Joe said the protests were about both the substance and process of her proposed changes.The home secretary plans to end permanent…

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