Why? Just look at the uproar from Labour MPs who have dismissed her plans to overhaul Britain’s broken asylum system by ramping up deportations, calling them “repugnant”.

Meanwhile, Ms Mahmood has found unlikely allies in far-Right activist Tommy Robinson, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

Politically, the issue has become a nightmare for the Prime Minister – in both senses of the word – and sent the Government into a tailspin.

Not only has Labour presided over a shambolic period of border security it is now shamelessly mimicking the policies of parties on the right.

It was why Ms Badenoch said: “The Home Secretary has done more in 70 days than her predecessor (Yvette Cooper) managed in a year.” And she meant it.

What the announcement is all about is less reacting to genuine public concern and more about neutering the seemingly unstoppable march of Mr Farage and his party towards Downing Street.

Ms Mahmood said: “If we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.”

She added that it was an “uncomfortable truth” that soft-touch Britain was drawing people to its shores and had left millions of taxpayers believing the system was “out of control and unfair”.

It is language that could easily have come from the mouth of Mr Farage and which, previously, Labour would have condemned.

Her plans to make the country’s asylum rules among the toughest in Europe include forcing people with refugee status to return to their home country if it is deemed safe, changing the number of years people who arrive illegally would have to wait before they can apply for permanent settlement from five to 20, and removal of financial support for families with children under the age of 18 if they have been refused asylum.

It amounts to the biggest shake-up of British asylum laws in 40 years.

You might well ask why this matters.

But given Labour backbench opposition, allied with that of the Liberal Democrats and Greens – and even accounting for Tory support – it seems unlikely the proposals will be voted through.

And even if they were, inevitable legal challenges follow.

So it takes the UK back to square one.

While millions across the UK will doubtless agree with what Ms Mahmood says, they are not daft.

They’ve been told before of plans to stop the boats, smash the gangs, and one in, one out. All have failed to address the border and immigration chaos.

Labour, which has sneered at the patriotic flying of flags across Britain, now stands accused of trying to outperform Reform.

But few really believe it is a party serious about backing asylum reform. Ms Mahmood’s pronouncements are said to amount to a Damascene conversion.

Which is why the resulting backlash – both now and when it comes to a vote in the Commons – has left Sir Keir skating on thin ice. And when it breaks, as it surely will, he will sink not swim.

Just look at the latest polling.

Approaching one quarter of Labour voters now think Sir Keir should call it a day and quit immediately.

In a devastating verdict on this premiership, a further 22% say he should step down before the next election due, at the latest, in 2029.

Taken together the results of a recent YouGov survey show almost half of all Labour voters want him evicted from Number 10.

And given the shameless shapeshifting on display recently, they could get their wish sooner rather than later.