Shabana Mahmood

The Right Honourable Shabana Mahmood KC MP
Official portrait, 2024
Secretary of State for Justice Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Keir Starmer
Preceded by	Alex Chalk
Shadow portfolios Shadow Cabinet 2023 – 2024 Justice, Lord Chancellor 2021–2023 National Campaign Co-ordinator 2015 Chief Secretary to the Treasury Shadow Minister 2013 – 2015 Financial Secretary to the Treasury 2013 Universities and Science 2011 – 2013 Higher Education 2010 – 2011 Prisons
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Clare Short
Majority	3,421 (9.3%)
Personal details
Born	(1980-09-17) 17 September 1980 (age 43) Small Heath, Birmingham, England
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Lincoln College, Oxford (BA)
Website	Official website

Shabana Mahmood KC (Urdu: شبانہ محمود; born 17 September 1980) is a British politician and barrister who is serving as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice since 2024.^[1] A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Ladywood since 2010. She previously held various shadow junior ministerial and shadow cabinet positions under leaders Ed Miliband, Harriet Harman, and Keir Starmer between 2010 and 2024.

Mahmood graduated in 2002 from Lincoln College, University of Oxford,^[2] and went on to complete the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law in 2003 after receiving a scholarship. As a barrister, her specialism is in professional indemnity. Her selection as the Labour Party candidate for Birmingham Ladywood for the 2010 general election caused some dissent in the constituency party, but was found by an inquiry led by a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to be legitimate. She was subsequently elected as MP for Birmingham Ladywood, becoming one of the UK's first female Muslim MPs, along with Rushanara Ali and Yasmin Qureshi. She then held numerous frontbench positions from October 2010 to May 2015, lastly as Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2013 to 2015.

After the 2015 general election, Mahmood was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet and served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the interim Shadow Cabinet of Harriet Harman. Following Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader, Mahmood resigned from the position and declined to serve in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet. She supported Owen Smith in the attempt to replace Corbyn in the 2016 leadership election. After serving on the backbenches between 2015 and 2021, Mahmood returned to the shadow cabinet in May 2021 British Shadow Cabinet reshuffle under Labour Leader Keir Starmer as the Party's National Campaign Coordinator. In the September 2023 British Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle, Starmer appointed Mahmood Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor.

Following Labour's victory the 2024 general election, Mahmood was appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in Starmer’s government.