When victims of the Rochdale grooming gangs learned that their chief tormentor had walked out of prison on licence, many asked a simple question. Would the state finally send him back to Pakistan?
On 1 July Andy Burnham answered them directly.
Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country. Victims must come first. I will ask the home and foreign secretaries to review all possible options – and they should consider nothing is off the table.The words carried weight. Burnham had made similar calls as mayor of Greater Manchester in 2022, urging the government to do everything within its power to deport grooming gang members.
Yet within days of Shabir Ahmed's release the same man announced a key appointment to his incoming Downing Street team. Matthew McGregor, a trustee of the charity Reprieve since April 2022, would become director of political strategy.
Reprieve campaigns to abolish the UK's policy of citizenship stripping. It describes the measure as brutal, harmful, fundamentally racist and ineffective. The Spectator revealed that McGregor's role at the organisation extends to its work against citizenship deprivation in cases involving serious offenders such as Ahmed.
Ahmed was convicted in 2012 of multiple counts of rape and sexual offences against girls as young as 12. He led a gang that preyed on as many as 50 children. Judges told his victims he would be deported. That promise collapsed because he arrived in Britain before 1973 and had lived here for at least five years, triggering protections under the Immigration Act 1971. Stripped of British citizenship, he still cannot be removed.
The timing is uncomfortable. Ahmed left prison on or around 2 July. Burnham's statement came the day before. His appointment of McGregor followed in mid-July as he assembled his team ahead of taking office.
