Who is Shabana Mahmood? Pakistan-origin MP named UK's new Home Secretary
After the UK's deputy prime minister Angela Rayner tendered her resignation following breaching the ministerial code, PM Keir Starmer reshuffled the Cabinet
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has named Pakistan-origin Shabana Mahmood as the new Home Secretary. The announcement came in the wake of Angela Rayner’s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister.
With major changes taking place in the British Cabinet, Mahmood became the first Muslim woman to head the Home Office. The Home Office oversees immigration, policing, and national security administration.
"It is the honour of my life to serve as Home Secretary. The first responsibility of government is the safety of its citizens. Every day in this job, I will be devoted to that purpose," Mahmood said.
The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP @ShabanaMahmood has been appointed as Secretary of State for the Home Department @UKHomeOffice. pic.twitter.com/HUKQh8wnDT
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) September 5, 2025
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Who is Shabana Mahmood?
Mahmood was born to Pakistani parents in Birmingham in 1980. She spent her early years in Saudi Arabia before returning to the UK. As per reports, Mahmood pursued her law degree at Lincoln College, Oxford, and qualified as a barrister specialising in professional indemnity cases.
She entered politics in 2010. She was elected as an MP from Birmingham Ladywood, marking a turning point in her political career. She was one of the UK’s first female Muslim MPs. Since then, she has held several key roles, including Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Shadow Minister for Prisons.
But she stepped away from politics during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2015. Later, she returned under Starmer’s leadership. In 2023, she was appointed shadow justice secretary.
After winning the 2024 election, she was appointed as justice secretary and lord chancellor. She introduced several schemes to manage the overcrowded prisons and to address the court backlogs. Earlier this week, she introduced major legislation in Parliament aimed at reforming the prison system in the UK.
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Key challenges
As home secretary, Mahmood would face crucial challenges such as asylum backlogs, deportation cases, grooming gang inquiries, and police reforms. Earlier, Sky News reported that she has been supporting stronger deportation measures and voiced concerns about child exploitation cases.
Naming her as home secretary has been viewed as important, as the UK political agenda has dealt with broader issues such as Channel crossings, asylum hotel usage, and migration-related issues. While the Global West is taking a stern anti-migration political stand, Starmer’s pick suggested that his office has been trying to address and strengthen its focus on immigration-related issues and law and order.
Mahmood has supported the deportations of migrants without legal status. As she identified with the socially conservative Blue Labour group, Starmer’s move has been praised by Blue Labour founder Lord Glasman, who told Politico it was “fantastic” and that “she’s now clearly the leader of our part of the party.” Blue Labour is known for socially conservative positions on law and order issues.
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