If all you know about Shabana Mahmood’s interview with the comedian Matt Forde, which was recorded live at a West End theatre on Monday, is that she said a heckler should “fuck right off”, then it’s worth listening to the heckle itself. Hell, knock yourself out and listen to the whole podcast. The accompanying blurb calls the home secretary “impassioned, thoughtful and hilarious”, which we’ll come back to, except to say there is nothing hilarious about this exchange.

The heckler accused Mahmood of “out-Reforming Reform” and confecting a “theatre of cruelty” with her new immigration policy ideas, before being removed by security.

In a nutshell, Mahmood has doubled the length of time required to get settled status (to 10 years) and refugees will now have their status reviewed every 30 months. We could split hairs over whether this out-Reforms Reform or merely apes them, but either way the position seems vindictive. Even those who like these policies would not have expected a vote for the Labour party to deliver them.

Profanity in politics, once completely out of bounds, lands differently now – one researcher at Cardiff analysed Donald Trump’s dropping of an F-bomb while talking about Iran and Israel in June last year and concluded that it made him sound relatable, solidified his reputation for........

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