'No ill intent' over joke about early-release prison plans, Streeting and Mahmood say after pair's remarks caught on mic

The Defence Secretary and Home Secretary have come under fire after the pair were caught on film laughing during a conversation about Labour’s early prison-release scheme.

In footage published by Guido Fawkes, Mr Streeting can be heard telling Ms Mahmood: “You know he’s the enemy now, Justice Shabana?”

Ms Mahmood replied: “No, he’s not,” before Mr Streeting added: “He wants to let them all out.”

The Home Secretary then said: “You know who’s boss,” as the group of senior Labour figures laughed.

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Apologising for the remarks, Mr Streeting wrote on X: "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."

He added: "But I appreciate these are very serious issues and am sorry for any offence inadvertently caused by this moment of levity".

Ms Mahmood has also apologised over the comments.

She said: "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."

The exchange comes ahead of legal changes due to take effect in September, which would allow some offenders convicted of serious crimes to be released earlier than under current rules.

The scheme is expected to see more than 5,000 offenders released over the following 10 months.

Under the scheme, serious offenders - including killers, rapists and child groomers - can be released after serving half of their sentence rather than two-thirds, provided they have not committed serious disciplinary breaches in prison.

Meanwhile, those convicted of less serious offences could be freed after serving as little as a third of their sentence.

Two of the men convicted over the killing of PC Andrew Harper could be released from prison early through the scheme, which is designed to ease overcrowding in prisons.

Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole were jailed for 13 years in 2020 for the manslaughter of Pc Harper, who was killed while responding to the theft of a quad bike in Berkshire in August 2019

PC Harper’s mother, Debbie Adlam, has said the policy "feels like a slap in the face and an insult".

Meanwhile, the Conservatives and Reform UK condemned the video, with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp saying: “Letting rapists out of prison early is not funny.”

He called for an apology and for the Government to abandon plans to allow rapists to be released early.

Before becoming Prime Minister on Monday, Andy Burnham was reviewing whether rapists and child groomers could be excluded from the new scheme amid mounting criticism.

However, the scheme is already enshrined in law under the 2026 Sentencing Act, meaning changes would require further legislation.