Shabana Mahmood

Shabana Mahmood MP was elected to Parliament in May 2010, and was one of the first female Muslim MPs in the country. Soon after her election, she was elected to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, where she took a particular interest in unemployment issues and the government’s Work Programme. In October 2010 Shabana was appointed Shadow Home Office Minister, with responsibility for immigration and counter-terrorism. She was appointed Shadow Minister for Higher Education in October 2011.

Shabana was born in Birmingham and attended local schools before winning a place at Oxford University to study Law. Whilst studying at Oxford she was involved in a number of programmes designed to increase applications to the university from students from non-traditional backgrounds, including ethnic minority students.
Shabana completed her Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law and before her election was a practising Barrister specialising in professional indemnity litigation at a leading national law firm. Shabana is an experienced litigator and has acted on a number of high value and complex cases, primarily representing defendants and their insurers. In addition to her legal career, Shabana volunteered as a supplementary school teacher where alongside her teaching responsibilities, she continued to mentor, advise and assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with university and job applications.