Labour’s Shabana Mahmood becomes the first female Muslim Home Secretary, replacing Yvette Cooper after a major government reshuffle. Mahmood is expected to take a tough stance on illegal immigration amid growing far-right pressure.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer began his first Cabinet reshuffle more than a year after his election win following the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner early Friday amid a damning stamp duty scandal.
As part of the wide reshuffle, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was appointed as the country’s new Foreign Secretary, replacing David Lammy, who becomes the new deputy premier, as well as the Justice Secretary.
Rachel Reeves will reportedly keep her job as Chancellor while as part of the reshuffle, Lucy Powell was sacked as leader of the House of Commons and Ian Murray also lost his job as Scotland Secretary.
Mahmood is set to take on one of the toughest jobs in government as pressure mounts over record Channel crossings, asylum hotels and rising Islamophobic hate on Britain’s streets.
Britain now has a Muslim at the helm of domestic direction taking charge of the police and MI5. She will also be required to defend the proscription of Palestine Action amid a major protest movement urging for its removal from the terror list.
Reform UK has serious momentum amid rising racial tensions and far-right propaganda such as conspiracies surround the grooming scandal and the so-called “great replacement” agenda – a far-right conspiracy claiming Labour are allowing mass Islamic immigration to change the demographics in England.
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These are additional challenges she will now need to face in her role.
Mahmood has long used her Muslim identity as a key part of her political persona despite being at odds with her own community.
During 2024’s election campaign, Muslims and pro-Palestine supporters attempted to oust her from her seat in Birmingham Ladywood amid widespread anger over Labour’s support for Israel amid the Gaza genocide.
Mahmood only managed to save her seat with a 3,400 majority after thousands of mostly Muslim voters backed pro-Gaza independent Akhmed Yaqoob who came second with an impressing 12,137 votes.
Following her win, Mahmood condemned the pro-Palestine activists for allegedly subjecting her to harassment during the election campaign, adding that some people had sought to “deny” her Muslim faith.
She stated: “A lot will be written about this campaign, and it should be. This was a campaign that was sullied by harassment and intimidation.”
She called the pro-Palestine activists effort to unseat her an “assault on democracy itself” and said it was “never acceptable to intimidate and threaten.”
This was a claim adopted by many Labour MPs who had similarly faced a Muslim vote campaign attempting to politically punish Labour over Gaza.
Mahmood has since attempted to appear more pro-Palestine while serving as Justice Secretary, reportedly pressuring the PM last month to recognise a Palestinian state.
