LONDON: Birmingham MP for British-Pakistani Kashmir Shabana Mahmood has been appointed Lord Chancellor and Justice Minister in the new Labor government, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office confirmed on Friday.
Mahmood was the fourth former shadow minister to join Downing Street following Starmer’s appointment as Prime Minister.
Her parents hail from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. He is fluent in Urdu and Mirpur.
Born and raised in Birmingham, Mahmood called the bar at Grays Inn after studying on a scholarship. In practice, she specialized in professional compensation cases. In September last year, she was appointed shadow justice secretary.
Her previous roles as shadow ministers included spells in home affairs, trade and as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.
Mahmood spoke emotionally when she was announced as the winner on Friday morning. She thanked her mom, dad and her supporters for re-electing her, but took aim at those who targeted her during the campaign.
She said: “There will be a lot written about this campaign and there should be. It was a campaign of harassment and intimidation against me, my family and my door knocking supporters. They continued bravely. I want to thank everyone who continued. This wasn’t just an attack on this. That was an attack on democracy. British politics need to wake up soon to what happened in this election in Ladywood and a handful of seats across the country. While it will always be acceptable to passionately disagree, it is never acceptable to intimidate and threaten. We must never accept someone who scares us.
Mahmood said this in reference to similar intimidation Naz Shah faces from her opponents.
Mahmood said emotionally that she wanted to share what was deeply important to me and my family. 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 also British values: decency, respect, kindness.”
Mahmood then called out her detractors who had subjected her to a hate campaign, saying: “They thought they could intimidate 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 change. I want to thank the people of Ladywood for rejecting the politics of division and embracing the politics of hope.
In response to the booing of her detractors, she added: “No one has ever managed to boo me. I know we have bridges to rebuild. I am grateful to the community. We must make the change we promised, the change of 14 years of bad Tory government that has left its devastating mark on this constituency and many others.
In an interview with Geo News last week, Shabana Mahmood has shared that she faced intimidation and harassment in her 14 years of public life as a Kashmiri Muslim woman of Pakistani origin in the UK, stressing that being a Muslim in public life is challenging. .
She told Geo News that she didn’t speak about such harassment earlier because she didn’t want people “especially our sisters, daughters, to see politics negatively and get discouraged by calls of intimidation and harassment.”
She emphasized that in a free democracy everyone should participate in elections without fear of harassment or abuse
In an interview with Geo News, she spoke of the deep pride and honor she feels in representing a minority faith and ethnicity in public life and envisions a future where these challenges can be openly addressed.
Mahmood has served as Labor Party’s election campaign manager during by-elections for the past two years and has been a member of the Labor Party’s National Executive Committee since 2016, playing a key role in preparing the party’s manifesto for the election held on 4.
The Oxford graduate was first elected on a Labor ticket in 2010 and has been winning ever since. She won the mandate with 15,558 votes
Mahmood is expected to be sworn in as Lord Chancellor of the Royal Courts of Justice before Parliament opens on July 17.
British-Pakistani appointed Lord Chancellor, Justice Secretary in UK PM cabinet
