DURING her acceptance speech as the UK’s new lord chancellor and justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood reflected on her inner-city upbringing in Birmingham and her hope of being an inspiration to youngsters from a similar background.
“I must say what an honour it is to take my own oath as lord chancellor today,” Mahmood said. “There once was a little girl in Small Heath, one of the poorest areas of Birmingham who worked behind the till in her parents’ corner shop.
“I’ve carried the weight of many identities in this career. It is a privilege, but also a burden. So, at the very least, I hope my appointment shows the next little girl in Small Heath, or wherever she may be that, in this country, even the oldest offices in the land are within reach of us all.”
With family roots in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir in Pakistan, Mahmood was born in Birmingham in 1980 to Zubaida and Mahmood Ahmed. From 1981 to 1986 she lived in Taif, Saudi Arabia, where her father was working as a civil engineer on desalination.
After that, she was brought up in Birmingham where her mother worked in a corner grocery shop that the family had bought after returning to England.
Her father became chair of the local Labour party and as a teenager, Mahmood helped him with campaigning in local elections.
“I hold this office in the very highest regard. I do so not just as a former barrister, but as the child of immigrants. My parents weren’t steeped in Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights – as I would one day be. But they did have a strong sense, arriving here in the UK from rural Kashmir, that this country was different: That there are rules, some written and some not, that we abide by,” said Mahmood.
Some early decisions as justice secretary include increasing the number of prison cells with the government promising to build four new prisons, within the next seven years, and find a total of 14,000 cell spaces in prisons by 2031. Mahmood also implemented an early release scheme for prisoners, addressing the severe capacity issues in prisons.
Her department announced that the probation service will recruit 1,300 new probation officers next year, to protect the public and make streets safer. And 1,200 new police officers will be recruited over the next year to rebuild community policing.
She also unveiled plans to increase Crown Court sitting days by 2,000, bringing the total to 108,500 for the year—the highest figure in nearly a decade. This measure aims to address the growing court backlog, which currently exceeds 73,000 cases.
“If we fail to act now, we face the collapse of the criminal justice system. And a total breakdown of law and order,” said Mahmood.
Mahmood entered politics in 2010 when Clare Short, the incumbent MP for Birmingham Ladywood, decided not to contest the 2010 general election.
After becoming the first female Muslim MP, last year’s general election was her fifth win, although it was marred by violence which included masked men disrupting a community meeting, “terrifying” people in attendance, Mahmood said.
Mahmood revealed that her family and supporters had been harassed during the election campaign, adding that some people had sought to “deny” her Muslim faith.
She shared that physical threats had been reported to police, whom she thanked for going “above and beyond to ensure a safe and secure election”
Mahmood added: “A lot will be written about this campaign, and it should be. This was a campaign that was sullied by harassment and intimidation.”
She called the behaviour an “assault on democracy itself” and said it was “never acceptable to intimidate and threaten” people.
“Amidst all this, let’s not forget: today is a day of triumph. 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 didn’t
“I have served Ladywood for 14 years – and it has been the honour of my life. But I have always done so from opposition – powerless in a country that has been heading in the wrong direction for far too long. In the last four and a half years, we changed the Labour Party. Those of us who believed it must reconnect with working people and put country first and party second.
“The road will be hard and it will be long – we know that. Throughout this campaign, we have never made promises we cannot keep, but we have promised to do the hard work of governing. And now I will fight, day and night, with the voice of Brummies at the heart of a Labour government. To bring change to this country, which we so desperately need.”
Mahmood, 44, is used to overcoming difficult moments in her life to achieve her goals. She described how her family’s journey from Pakistan to the UK and the challenges they faced deeply influenced her path in life and her determination to succeed.
“The first time I was racially abused, I was seven years old,” she said in an interview with The Times.
“The first time I was called a P*** was in the playground at junior school. I was about seven years old, and I did not know what the word meant. I knew the boy who said it to me was saying it to be horrible but I had to ask my best friend, who was one of the only black children in the school, what the word meant. And that was the first time I found out what the n-word was as well, because she said, ‘Well, it’s like the brown version of the n-word.’”
Mahmood comes from a family that placed great importance on education. Her siblings have all pursued successful careers, with her twin brother working in software development, her sister in the NHS, and her younger brother in finance.
Mahmood failed the 11-plus exam but went on to study law at Oxford University, where she became president of the junior common room at Lincoln College. Before becoming an MP, she worked as a barrister, specialising in professional indemnity
A devout Muslim, she emphasised that her Muslim faith is at the core of who she is and felt that swearing the oath of allegiance on the Quran “was the first time I thought I’ve broken through a barrier.”
“It is the part of me that remains when all else is gone,” she explained, highlighting that her faith guides her actions and political decisions, including her recent objection to the assisted dying rule.
