“We believe we can turn the country around”

What Steven asked Naushabah Khan, the new MP for Gillingham and Rainham

Having represented Gillingham South as a Medway councillor since 2015, Naushabah Khan was elected to represent Gillingham and Rainham constituency in the recent General Election, defeating Rehman Chishti. Steven met Naushabah in Starbucks to discuss the election, getting used to life in Parliament, her views on the two-child benefit cap and the Winter Fuel Allowance, and restoring trust in politics.

Naushabah Khan

What is your memory of election night?
Oh gosh, it seems like a long time ago now. It was really exciting. Although I was locked away in a room with my colleagues who were also standing in the election, the other Medway MPs, so we weren't at the count for a long time. We were having to watch things from afar. But it was incredible. I remember feeling really, really nervous when the exit poll came out because, obviously, we'd had all the rumours with the polls and so on, but to see that come to fruition and the reality of what the situation potentially could be was quite different. I remember when that exit poll came out. I was watching it at Twydall Labour Club, and all of us cheered. But then it came down to the individual results. I will never forget it as such, but equally, some of it feels a little bit blurry. But yeah, a huge moment in my life.

Was there any point, whilst campaigning and monitoring the polls, when you felt confident you had won?
I don't think I ever felt confident because I've been in politics a long time, and I've learned that you should never take anything for granted. You can't just assume that what you think will happen will happen, and there were lots of results across the country that showed that. However, what I did feel was it was the best chance I've had for a long time, but you just didn't know. It's hard to tell sometimes when you're speaking to lots and lots of people exactly what journey things are going to take, and particularly in a seat like Gillingham and Rainham where it is marginal, you will get people voting for lots of different parties and sometimes you're not able to see how that result will pan out.

Since the election, have you had any conversation or handover from the previous MP for Gillingham and Rainham?
No, I have not. I have seen him in Parliament, but I have not had a handover.

What are your thoughts on the voter turnout for the election?
Of course, it's disappointingly low and lower than you'd like. I think there is that bigger question around our politics more generally. When I was out on the doors, there were lots of people who certainly wanted a change. Lots of people were coming over to Labour. Lots of people who were going to also vote Reform for the first time, who had previously voted Conservative. But there was also a number of people who said, we’re fed up, we're frustrated, and we're going to sit on our hands. There's a wider point around our politics about what that means and how we change that. I'm hoping that if we can start to turn this country around and show the difference that politics can make in a positive way, there'll be those people who will see the value of democracy again. But we've got to be careful with this. I'm a historian, and I've studied through the years how things change and what happens. Some of the biggest world events we've seen are when people start to lose faith in our democratic systems. It's something we need to think about carefully, and that I touched upon in my maiden speech about that sense of hope and how we get that back into people.

When we last spoke you worked for St Mungo's. When did you leave there?
I left St Mungo's back in March, prior to the election being called, because I realised that it was becoming very difficult to be a parliamentary candidate at the time. I was also a cabinet member and also working a full-time job in a quite exciting but busy job. I took the decision in March to stand down and focus fully on the campaign. At that time, I didn't know when the election was going to be, so I was hoping that it would happen relatively quickly. Otherwise, I would have had to get another job, of course, because it's very difficult to sustain financially. But it seemed to happen before the summer, and I think I was the only person saying that. Lots of people didn't believe me when I was like, I just feel it because I guess saying you feel it in your bones is not really (laughs) credible.

Were you surprised when it was called for July?
It's really hard to explain, but I just had this gut feeling that it would be, and I kept on saying it. Lots of people were saying no, absolutely not and then when the Prime Minister at the time, Rishi Sunak, ruled it out quite early on and said it would be in November, October, that was still the date. Then I had some people saying to me it might be January 2025. I wouldn't necessarily say it was a shock that it was called before July because I think it was like a lone wolf saying, ‘It's going to be before August’. However, I hadn't really planned for the day that it was called. I wasn't expecting it to happen at that moment. There had been a few false alarms previous to that and they hadn't come to fruition. The day it was called, I was actually on my way to Leeds for a conference. I was on the journey up, and as I was getting on the train. I was off to speak at a housing conference about housing and homelessness at UKREiiF. When I was looking at my phone, I could see these messages coming through on Twitter from other people. As the train was getting further and further away from Gillingham and Medway, and it was going past Doncaster (laughs), I was like, ‘I think an election's about to be called.’ What I had to do was get off at Leeds station, buy a return ticket back and get on the next train back. It wasn't how I'd expected.

How long was there between the result of the election night and you officially going to Parliament?
A couple of days. We were elected on the Thursday with the result coming through on a Friday, as is always the case. The Friday was a bit of a surreal. I did get a chance to see the Kaiser Chiefs at the Castle Concerts. We were allowed to go in over the weekend, and they suggested that we go in on the Sunday to get our inductions done, pick up materials, equipment, all of these sorts of things, sign papers, passes, etc. It happened very quickly. I think I was just fuelling myself on adrenaline and sugar. It was just like coffee, really sugary coffee and adrenaline. But it was quite exciting.

When you read memoirs of MPs, as some of us do, there's always a horror story the first time you go to work at Parliament because of the nature of the building and like trying to find your office. Was it like that for you?
I've worked in Parliament in the past. I have a bit of a lay of the land, and I know what it looks like and how it operates, whereas I think there were some new MPs who hadn't even been there before, so a completely different experience. The very first day I went, there was much more of an induction, and we were supported and guided because there were so many new MPs. You're not on your own, and that makes a big difference. You can tell who the new MPs are because they're all walking around like a lost sheep. I didn't have an office. I only just got given an office a few weeks ago in Parliament. For a lot of it, you're just walking around trying to work out where the toilets are. If you've ever been in a parliamentary estate, it's an amazing building and you can feel how important it is and the democracy that happens there. But equally, it's a bit of a maze. You've got this really old part of the building with lots of formalities, and then you've got this other half of the building, which is quite new and modern, but still, it's made to look like wooden panelling. Everything is hidden behind a wooden door, and most of the time, I was just opening doors to cupboards and things like that. I'm still not quite used to it, so maybe ask me that question again in a couple of months, and I'll probably have lots more stories because there's something new every day.

Is there anything about being an MP you wish you'd known in advance?
The fact that you're not allowed to wear trainers in the chamber. That's always good to know. If I'm honest, I've been around the world of politics for so long, I've sort of experienced it and seen it, but there is definitely a steep escalation in just the level of attention that you get when you say something. The exposure that you get is different to being a councillor, very different to being a councillor. That is a transition that you have to go through. It's not necessarily that you didn't know that, but I think when you're experiencing it and you're in the midst of it, it's quite an intense experience. I'm still learning, and I suspect there will be things that happen in months to come that I will say, ‘I wish someone had told me that.’

There have been two contentious votes (on the two-child benefit cap and the Winter Fuel Allowance) since you came into government. Could you talk to us about it as an individual representative and as a member of the ruling party?