Her mother worked in a corner grocery shop that the family bought after returning to England.[4] Her father became chair of the local Labour party,[6] and as a teenager,Mahmood helped him with campaigning in local elections.[7] In an interview with Nick Robinson in 2024,Mahmood said that although politics "had always been part of [her] life",her ambition when younger was to be a barrister,and cited the example of the fictional Kavanagh QC.[8]
Clare Short,the incumbent MP for Birmingham Ladywood,decided not to contest the 2010 general election.[15] Mahmood and a local councillor,Yvonne Mosquito,both sought the Labour Party nomination.[15] In the vote of Constituency Labour Party (CLP) members to select the candidate,Mahmood secured 118 votes while Mosquito received 99.[16] Supporters of Mosquito claimed that up to 30 members were prevented from voting for her following a rule change affecting eligibility.[16] According to the political scholars Parveen Akhtar and Timothy Peace,"This led to the CLP being temporarily split on race lines between Asian and Afro-Caribbean factions,demonstrating the complicated ethnic tensions at play in some U.K. constituencies."[15] Mahmood said that she did not feel that the local party was divided in this way,and commented that "I know there is a line out there about divisions,my experience doesn't mirror that in any way."[17][18] An inquiry led by National Executive Committee of the Labour Party member Mike Griffiths found that Mahmood's victory was legitimate.[16]
In 2011,it was reported that Mahmood was on the list of people spied on by private investigator Derek Webb for the News of the World,which was seeking information about the people of most interest to their readers.[25]
At the 2015 general election,Mahmood was re-elected as MP for Birmingham Ladywood with an increased vote share of 73.6% and an increased majority of 21,868.[26] Following the election,Mahmood was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.[27] Nationwide,the Labour Party's election results were below expectations,and party leader Ed Miliband resigned the following day.[28] Mahmood was a co-chair of the campaign to elect Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election,and made a pledge to avoid negative briefing during the campaign.[29]
Return to the backbenches (2015–2021)
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.[30] The following month,she was one of the winners of the women's magazine Marie Claire's Women at the Top Awards.[31]
At the snap 2017 general election,Mahmood was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 82.7% and an increased majority of 28,714.[36]
Mahmood was again re-elected at the 2019 general election with a decreased vote share of 79.2% and a decreased majority of 28,582.[37] After Labour's election loss,Mahmood was asked to commission a review launched by Labour Together of the party's election performance.[38]
At the 2024 general election,Mahmood was re-elected with a decreased share of 42.5% and a majority of 3,421.[44] She had been challenged by independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob,whose campaign focused on support for Palestine.[45][46] Yakoob finished second behind Mahmood,with 12,137 votes,[47] following a campaign that Mahmood described as "sullied by harassment and intimidation".[46]
Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor (2024–present)
Mahmood (centre) at her swearing in as Lord High Chancellor,alongside Sarah Sackman as Solicitor General and Richard Hermer as Attorney General,on 15 July 2024
On 5 July 2024,Starmer appointed Mahmood as the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor.[48] This made her the first Muslim and second female Lord Chancellor in history.[49][50] Conservative Party politician Liz Truss was the first woman to hold the role,having been appointed in the first May ministry in July 2016 as the first female lord chancellor in the office's thousand-year history.[51][a]
A week after her appointment,she announced measures intended to decrease prison overcrowding,describing the situation in prisons as a ticking "time bomb" and saying that prisons were on the "point of collapse".[53][54] Under her plans,some prisoners would be released after serving 40% of their sentences in England and Wales,rather than the 50% announced previously in October 2023.[55] She stated that she expected that the number of prisoners to be released in September 2024 would be "in the low thousands",with further releases over the following 18 months with updates in parliament every three months.[56][53] This included 37 who were not eligible for early release. At least one is suspected to have gone on to offend again.[57]
Following the 2024 United Kingdom riots,Mahmood pledged that "the full force of the law [would] be brought against" the rioters,and those inciting them.[58] She also remarked that the volume of cases relating to the riots would affect the UK's justice system for years.[58]
Political positions
Israel and Palestine
Mahmood says on her website that she is a passionate supporter of Palestinian rights.[59] In 2014,Mahmood took part in a demonstration outside a branch of Sainsbury's in central Birmingham. She said "We lay down in the street and we laid down inside Sainsbury's to say we object to them stocking goods from illegal settlements –and that they must stop. We managed to close down that store at peak time on a Saturday. This is how we can make a difference."[60] The Jewish Chronicle reported that she was criticised for this by members of the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council. The report also said that the chair of the Jewish Labour Movement and the director of Antisemitism Policy Trust both said that she had taken action against anti-semitism.[61]
LGBT issues
In March 2019,Mahmood was criticised by activists within her party after stating that the "religious background" of pupils and "age appropriateness" should be considered when teaching LGBTQ+ content during Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) lessons in schools,after 1,700 of her constituents signed a petition objecting to teaching such content at a Birmingham primary school.[62] Columnist Owen Jones said on Twitter that her remarks were "shocking",feeling that they supported parents "trying to stop lessons educating pupils about the existence of gay people".[63] Mahmood replied that she had never advocated for the exclusion of LGBT relationships from RSE lessons.[63]
In a 2024 interview with The Daily Telegraph,Mahmood said that she was concerned with the treatment of gender-critical activists,saying that "many women have had to go to court,usually in employment tribunals,in order to clarify ... their right to say that biological sex is real and is immutable –a position that I also agree with" and that women "shouldn't be in the position of losing their jobs" for espousing those views. She also said that she "agrees with JK Rowling" regarding the view that "biological sex is real and is immutable",and that Rowling was "leading the fight in this area".[64][65]
Assisted dying
Mahmood stated in October 2024 that she was opposed to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on assisted dying. She said:'I voted against the bill when it was last introduced in 2015. I'll be voting against it again. As a Muslim,I have an unshakable belief in the sanctity and value of human life. I don't think death is a service that the state should be offering.'[66]
Personal life
In a 2024 interview with Gabriel Pogrund of The Sunday Times,Mahmood was described as a "devout Muslim". She said,"My faith is the centrepoint of my life and it drives me to public service,it drives me in the way that I live my life and I see my life."[4] She lives next door to her parents.[4]
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