Shabana Mahmood, a Pakistani-origin politician, has been appointed the United Kingdom’s new home secretary in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s latest cabinet reshuffle.
Shabana succeeds former Home Secretary Angela Rayner, who has resigned recently.
Shabana is the first Muslim woman to hold the top position in the Home Office, a department responsible for policing, immigration, and national security, according to agencies.
“It is the honour of my life to serve as home secretary. The first responsibility of the government is the safety of its citizens. Every day in this job, I will be devoted to that purpose,” she wrote in a statement.
Shabana was born on September 17, 1980, in Birmingham, England, to Pakistani parents. She lived with her family in Saudi Arabia for five years (1981-85).
She attended Small Heath School and King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls before studying law at Lincoln College, Oxford. She graduated in 2002. She then completed the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law in 2003 and became a barrister.
In 2010, Shabana Mahmood was elected as the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood, becoming one of the UK’s first female Muslim MPs.
From 2010 to 2015, Shabana worked in the capacity of Shadow Minister for Prisons, Shadow Minister for Higher Education, and Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury. After the 2015 election, she was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and helped lead Yvette Cooper’s campaign to become Labour leader.
She returned to the Shadow Cabinet in May 2021 as National Campaign Coordinator and was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor in September 2023.
Following Labour’s victory in the 2024 general election, she became Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor.
