Shabana Mahmood


Shabana Mahmood is a British Labour Party politician and barrister, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Ladywood since the May 2010 general election.

Early life

Mahmood was born and brought up in Birmingham. Her family roots are from Mirpur, in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. She spent five years living in Ta'if after her father relocated there. She graduated from Lincoln College, Oxford where she studied law and was the president of the Junior Common Room.
She is a qualified barrister, specialising in professional indemnity.

Parliamentary career

In the 2010 general election, Mahmood was elected for Birmingham Ladywood with a majority of 10,105, succeeding Labour minister Clare Short who stood down. Along with Rushanara Ali and Yasmin Qureshi, Mahmood became one of the UK's first female Muslim MPs.
Mahmood served a number of ministerial positions under Labour leader Ed Miliband. In October 2010, Mahmood was appointed a Shadow Home Affairs Minister, later becoming a Shadow Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 2013.
Following the 2015 general election, Mahmood was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In September 2015, following Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader, Mahmood stepped down from the role, saying she "strongly disagreed" with him on the economy.
In January 2016, Mahmood was elected to represent the Parliamentary Labour Party on Labour's National Executive Committee, and was re-elected in July 2016. In November 2016, Mahmood was elected one of the vice chairs of Labour's National Policy Forum.
She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.
In November 2016, Mahmood opposed a motion in Parliament for the UK to withdraw support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.
She was re-elected in the 2017 snap election, increasing her vote share to over 80%, one of the highest in the country; she retained her seat in the 2019 general election with a slight decrease to her substantial majority.
After Labour's disastrous result at the 2019 election, Mahmood was asked to commission a review launched by Labour Together of the party's election performance. She was joined by Lucy Powell, Ed Miliband, Jo Platt and others. Consequently, she did not nominate any candidate for the 2020 Labour Party leadership election or deputy election.
Mahmood has served on the Public Accounts Committee, since 2017.

Electoral performance

Controversies

In August 2014, Mahmood was accused of promoting "mob rule" after she boasted on YouTube that she had recently participated in a protest calling for the boycotting of Israeli goods that temporarily forced a supermarket to close. Simon Johnson, CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council sharply criticized Mahmood, arguing that "It is completely inappropriate for a Member of Parliament to promote public disorder", while Conservative MP Mike Freer stated that "For any Parliamentarian to encourage mob rule as a way of protesting is shameful."
A spokesperson for Labour party leader Ed Miliband later stated that "Ed Miliband has been clear that Labour does not support boycotts of Israel and we resolutely oppose the isolation of Israel... Having spoken to her, Shabana has made clear that she does not support calls for a boycott of Israel but supports the proper labelling of goods from the region."
On 21 August 2014, Mahmood announced that she would continue to support boycotts of products from Israeli settlements. Mahmood stated she has "a difference of view with my party." In justifying her position, Mahmood stated that "We all agree that Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal under international law and they are not part of Israel. As such, they are an obstacle to a two state solution and a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine." However, Mahmood denied that she supported a boycott of products from Israel proper, stating that "There is no disagreement that a more general boycott of Israel would not contribute towards a lasting peace in the region."
In March 2019, she spoke in parliament in defence of constituents who were concerned about Relationships and Sex Education lessons, following protests at Parkfield Community School regarding the school's “No Outsiders” programme. She later stated that her comments were misinterpreted and condemned the 'homophobic banners' and 'hostile protests'.

Awards and nominations

In January 2014, Mahmood was nominated for the Politician of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.
In October 2015, she was named as one of the winner's of the women's magazine Marie Claire's Women at the Top Awards.
In 2018, Mahmood was named as one of the Brummies Who Inspire in celebration of the 175th anniversary of Birmingham City University.