AMN WEB DESK
Shabana Mahmood has been appointed new UK Home Secretary, replacing Yvette Cooper following a major Cabinet reshuffle in the Labour-led government.
The reshuffle was triggered by the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. Mahmood said she is honoured to take up the role and added that the safety of citizens would be her top priority.
Mahmood had previously served as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor from 2024 to 2025. She has been the MP for Birmingham Ladywood since 2010 and is a senior figure in the Labour Party.
Her new role comes amid rising pressure over small boat crossings, asylum hotels, and migration. She has voiced support for reforming the European Convention on Human Rights and tightening immigration rules.
Who is Shabana Mahmood?
Shabana Mahmood was born in Birmingham in 1980 to Pakistani parents. She spent part of her early years in Saudi Arabia before moving back to the UK. She went on to study law at Lincoln College, Oxford, and later qualified as a barrister, specialising in professional indemnity cases.
Mahmood has held several key posts across Labour’s frontbench, including Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Shadow Minister for Prisons. She briefly stepped away from frontline politics in 2015 during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership but returned under Keir Starmer.
By 2023, she was serving as Shadow Justice Secretary and, following Labour’s 2024 general election victory, became Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor. In that role, she pushed through early prisoner release schemes to relieve pressure on jails.