Shabana Mahmood likely to be UK's first Muslim Prime Minister as Epstein scandal hits PM Keir Starmer
All eyes are now on the weekly Parliamentary Labour Party meeting, where UK PM Keir Starmer will have to persuade his Cabinet and backbench MPs that he continues to be the best person for the top job.
As Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces one of the most turbulent phases of his political career, speculation is mounting in Westminster over a possible change in Labour's leadership. At the centre of the discussion is Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who is increasingly being seen as a frontrunner to take the reins of the party, an outcome that would make her the United Kingdom's first Muslim prime minister.
Starmer's growing difficulties are not the result of personal impropriety, but of a poorly timed political decision, bringing Peter Mandelson back into Labour's inner leadership just as the Epstein files re-entered the public spotlight, amplifying scrutiny and internal unease.
According to documents associated with the late Jeffrey Epstein released in the US, Mandelson shared confidential information with him when he was the business secretary in the Gordon Brown Labour government.
The Opposition parties rounded on Starmer, and his own MPs questioned the vetting process that resulted in the appointment of Mandelson to a top diplomatic position before having to sack him as US envoy last year.
Who is Shabana Mahmood?
Shabana Mahmood, 45, is a lawyer-turned-politician and a close ally of Keir Starmer. Within Labour, she is known as an effective communicator and a highly ambitious figure, often seen as being aligned with the party’s right wing.
Born in Birmingham to Zubaida and Mahmood Ahmed, she traces her family roots to Pakistan and Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Appointed to the Home Office in 2025, Mahmood has been entrusted with the politically sensitive responsibility of overseeing the UK’s border security.
She earned her law degree from Lincoln College, Oxford, in 2002, before completing the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law the following year and qualifying as a barrister.
In 2010, she made history by becoming one of the first female Muslim MPs, alongside Rushanara Ali and Yasmin Qureshi.
What are Shabana Mahmood's chances?
UK bookmakers, whose betting operations are legal, currently place Shabana Mahmood's odds at 9/1, implying roughly a 10 per cent chance of success. However, her ability to straddle Labour's right wing while also appealing to Muslim voters has marked her out as a formidable dark-horse contender, according to a Bloomberg report.
Any path to becoming prime minister would depend on Keir Starmer resigning or being removed through a formal leadership challenge, a process that requires the support of at least 81 Labour MPs, or 20 percent of the party's total strength in the House of Commons.
Other frontrunners besides Shaban Mahmood
Although Shabana Mahmood remains a leading contender, she faces stiff competition from several prominent figures within the Labour Party. The other contenders besides Shaban Mahmood are:
- Angela Rayner, former deputy PM
- Wes Streeting, health secretary
- Ed Miliband, energy secretary and former leader of the Labour
- Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor
Also Read: 'Sorry I believed Mandelson's lies': British PM Keir Starmer issues apology to Epstein victims
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