It is up to Mahmood to stop the boats and save Labour

The only thing that matters in politics at the moment is stopping the boats. Therefore the test of the cabinet reshuffle is whether Shabana Mahmood, the new home secretary, can get the numbers down.

- JOHN RENTOUL CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR

Yvette Cooper was not doing a terrible job as home secretary, but the number of people crossing the Channel by small boat has been going up since she has been in office.

This may seem simplistic. There are other things that matter in politics, of course there are - the economy and the NHS being two of the most important. But those are not going too well either. If living standards were soaring and waiting lists were being slashed, it might be easier to ask the voters to be patient about uninvited immigration.

As it is, there is nothing that Labour can do until it fulfils one of the fundamental duties of any government: deciding who can come into the country and who cannot.

I think the mood has shifted. Andrew Marr, the great liberal conscience of The New Statesman and former editor of The Independent, has an essay this week concluding that if Labour cannot stop the boats, Nigel Farage will be prime minister.

He has no truck with the argument that trying to control migration is allowing Reform to set the agenda: “Yes, the online hate-merchants are exploiting something - but the ‘something’ is real. There are many decent people among the protesters, just as there are inside the migrant hotels.”