Jacqui's own doner gate

First she said she felt it was too dangerous to walk alone in London at night. Then her aides backtracked to say she was willing to go out at night and had recently bought a "kebab in Peckham".

But Ender Ginel, the 44-year-old owner of the takeaway - Katie's Kebab Shop - came forward to reveal Ms Smith had visited in the early evening with a "broad-shouldered" minder.

"She didn't say she was the Home Secretary, but she did ask questions about Peckham," Mr Ginel said.

"She asked did we get any trouble around the area. We told her the only time we get trouble is with youths who come in and think they are gangsters."

Opposition MPs said the Home Secretary was "cocooned" from the real world.

"To think that everybody goes around cocooned in a ministerial car with a couple of policemen watching is absolutely astonishing. I think she has no idea," said London Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather.

In an interview this weekend Ms Smith was asked whether she would go out by herself at night in Hackney.

She replied: "No, why would I do that? But I never would have done, at any point in my life. I just don't think it's a thing that people do."

She was also asked whether she would feel unsafe walking around an area such as Kensington and Chelsea.

She replied: "I wouldn't walk around at midnight. I'm fortunate that I don't have to."

Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington Diane Abbott invited Ms Smith to join her for a night stroll around the borough's streets and said: "Jacqui is feeding a culture of fear which is bad for our many venues."

Michael Desmond, Labour councillor for Hackney Downs, said: "We have closed down a troublesome club, improved lighting and upped police patrols."

Last year 27 children were killed by other children on London's streets. Conservative mayoral candidate Boris Johnson, wondering how many more must die, said: "First Mayor Livingstone said he could not solve gun and knife crime and now the Home Secretary says she is too scared to walk around at night."