Salma Shah | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | commentator, special adviser |
Ommasalma Shah (born July 1984) is a British political commentator and consultant known professionally as Salma Shah. She briefly acted as special adviser to former Tory Home Secretary Sajid Javid [1] [2] [3]
She has been a director of Kraken Strategy Limited since 2019, and is a Policy Fellow alumnus of Centre for Science and Policy. [2] [3]
Shah was born in July 1984 in the United Kingdom to immigrant parents from Pakistan. [4] [3]
Salma worked for Sir Alan Duncan who was then a member of the Conservative Party Shadow Cabinet as an adviser [5] and then a press officer for the Conservative Party. From 2014, she was a producer at the BBC helping to produce Today programme on Radio 4. [6] Shah worked as a special adviser in the Conservative government, specialising in public policy. [7] [8]
She work for Sajid Javid across four Government departments. She started working for him at the Department of Culture Media and Sport [9] The Department for Business Innovation and Skills and The Ministry for Housing and Local Government [10] She held an important role as an adviser to Sajid Javid when he was in office as Home Secretary. [11]
She departed from government in 2019, when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister. [12]
She then worked in the private sector for Portland Communications. [13] In 2022, she joined Mitie as a non-executive director and as a prominent political commentator in the media, [14] she has also been a commentator on police reform and English devolution. [15] [16] Shah has been awarded for her role as a company board director [17] She is a fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy. [18]
In her post-Government career, Salma was a columnist for the Independent The Independent and [19]
Shah is a regular panellist on shows including Sophy Ridge on Sunday [20] Good Morning Britain, [21] Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and BBC Politics Live. [22] She appeared on Have I Got News for You on 10 October 2025. [23]
Her husband Andrew Smith served as lord mayor of Westminster from 2021 to 2022 [24]