British-Pakistani Kashmiri-origin Birmingham MP Shabana Mahmood has been appointed as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in the new Labour government, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office confirmed on Friday. Mahmood becomes the first observant Muslim and only the second woman to hold the ancient office of Lord Chancellor. Her appointment comes after Labour’s landslide victory in the recent elections, which saw significant challenges due to the party’s stance on Gaza.
Mahmood, whose parents hail from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, is a fluent speaker of Urdu and Mirpuri. Born and raised in Birmingham, she was called to the bar at Grays Inn after studying on a scholarship and specialized in professional indemnity cases. She was appointed shadow justice secretary in September last year and previously held shadow ministerial roles in home affairs, business, and as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.
Speaking emotionally after her victory was declared on Friday morning, Mahmood thanked her family and supporters for their relentless support. She also condemned the harassment and intimidation faced by her, her family, and her supporters during the election campaign. “A lot will be written about this campaign and it should be,” she said. “This was a campaign of harassment and intimidation, of me, my family, and my supporters who knocked on the doors. Bravely, they continued. I want to give my deepest thanks to everyone who kept going. This wasn’t just an assault on us. This was an assault on democracy. British politics must soon wake up to what happened at this election in Ladywood and a handful of seats across the country. While it will always be acceptable to disagree passionately, it is never acceptable to intimidate and threaten. We must never accept anyone terrifying us. We must never accept physical threats and intimidation.”
Mahmood referenced the similar intimidation faced by Naz Shah and others during the election campaign. She emphasized that it is unacceptable to deny anyone their faith or brand them an infidel, stating, “I know what a Muslim looks like, a Muslim looks like me. I know what Muslim values are. Muslim values are mine and they are British values too: decency, respect, kindness.”
She also addressed her opponents, stating, “They thought they could intimidate us but they couldn’t. They thought they could silence us but they couldn’t. They thought they could beat us but they couldn’t. We campaigned for change in our constituency and nationally, for the change. I want to thank the people of Ladywood for rejecting the politics of division and embracing a politics of hope.”
Despite boos from her opponents, Mahmood remained resolute. “Nobody has ever succeeded in shouting me down. I know we have bridges to rebuild. I am thankful to the community. We must deliver the change we have promised, change of the 14 years of misrule of the Tory government that has left its devastating mark on this constituency and so many others.”
She acknowledged the local issues of poverty and unemployment but noted her powerlessness under the previous Tory government. She praised Starmer’s efforts to transform the Labour Party over the past two years, moving away from the party it became under Jeremy Corbyn, and expressed hope for the future despite the challenges ahead.
In an interview with Geo News, Mahmood shared that in her 14 years of public life as a Kashmiri Pakistani-origin Muslim woman in the UK, she has encountered significant intimidation and harassment. She emphasized that being a Muslim woman in public life is challenging and previously avoided discussing such harassment to prevent deterring young women from entering politics. Mahmood stressed that in a free democracy, everyone should participate in elections without fear of harassment or abuse, and it is unacceptable to push women out of the democratic process through intimidation.
She highlighted the importance of allowing candidates to stand for election and voters to cast their votes freely. Mahmood expressed deep pride and honor in representing a minority faith and ethnicity in public life and looked forward to addressing these challenges openly in the future.
Mahmood has served as the head of the Labour Party’s election campaign during by-elections over the past two years and has been a member of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee since 2016. She played a key role in preparing the party manifesto for the July 4 elections. An Oxford graduate, she was first elected on the Labour ticket in 2010 and has been winning ever since. In the recent election, she won with 15,558 votes, while her main opponent, who campaigned primarily on the Gaza issue, secured 12,137 votes. Her previous majority was 28,000 votes, underscoring the impact of the Gaza issue on her support base.
Mahmood is expected to be sworn in as Lord Chancellor at the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of the opening of Parliament on July 17. Her appointment marks a significant milestone in British politics, representing both gender and faith diversity in one of the oldest offices in the country.
