GMB presenter Adil Ray slams Home Secretary over Shamima Begum

Adil Ray has criticised the Home Secretary for his “disgusting” treatment of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum.

The 19-year-old from London fled to Syria aged 15, but said last week that she wanted to return to the UK with her newborn baby.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship in a move only permissible under international law if it does not leave the individual stateless.

Discussing the case on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, presenter Ray said: “I know it’s uncomfortable for some people to hear and to comprehend, but as a British Asian, when you see something like this…

“Of course, like everybody else I have no sympathy for her, I want her to suffer the harshest punishment, because what she did was an absolute disgrace.

“However, as a British Asian, what Sajid Javid is saying – because I’m British Asian, because of where my father was born 80 years ago, there is a small chance I might not be British.

“This country, my father came here, Sajid Javid’s father came here, for a better life, for a fairer life.

“This country says that even when you do something wrong, we are going to protect you in a court of law, even when you do something wrong.

“Most of us will abide by the law, but what Sajid Javid is saying for people like me now, if you put a foot wrong you could be seen as not being British. That is a really dangerous precedent that can be seen as being racist.”

Earlier in the show, he said: “I had it in the 70s, people calling me the p-word in the playground, ‘go back to your own country’.

“This is my Home Secretary saying that there is a chance that you might not be British, it’s disgusting.”