“Britain has always been hostile to migrants,” says Margaret Hodge. “Always.” Our interview was meant to start with an exploration of why, after 30 years in the House of Commons, her time as the MP for Barking in east London is now coming to an end. Instead, before my voice recorder has even been switched on, she starts to animatedly recall the start of her life in the UK – as a newly arrived six-year-old, born in Egypt – and the resonances it has with the government’s current crackdown on people trying to come here from abroad.
“I came here stateless,” she says. “I didn’t have a passport.”
