Shabana Mahmood is now the first Muslim woman in one of the great offices of state. As the new home secretary she will be in charge of migration – one of the country’s most divisive issues. So who is she and what does she believe in?
The Guardian’s senior political correspondent, Peter Walker, tells Lucy Hough about Mahmood’s upbringing in Birmingham and her decision to become an MP at the age of 29. Being given the safe seat of Birmingham Ladywood, says Peter, was a sign that she was “who Labour bigwigs expected to be in parliament for a long time and would have hopes that they do something good with it”. Part of the Blue Labour movement, she retreated to the backbenches during the Corbyn era – only to return when Starmer took control of the Labour party.
She has already shown what she may do in the Home Office after an attempt to put into practice Labour’s “one in, one out” deportation agreement with France. When one deportee disclosed he was a victim of trafficking, Mahmood said she would fight vexatious claims and even look at the operation of the Modern Slavery Act. Peter said: “Six months ago, I would’ve been very surprised by this. It’s the sort of thing that a conservative home secretary would’ve said”.
She is being tipped as a future leader and Starmer will be hoping that Mahmood can hold off critics and attacks by Reform. But others fear she could further alienate Labour’s progressive left.
