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Best of the Spectator

Women With Balls: the Shabana Mahmood Edition

Best of the Spectator

The Spectator

News, Daily News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.3826 Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Shabana Mahmood is the shadow secretary of state for justice. She was born in Birmingham to migrant parents. After studying Law at Lincoln College, Oxford, where Rishi Sunak was a contemporary, she qualified as a barrister and lived and worked in London. First elected to Parliament in 2010, representing Birmingham Ladywood, she was one of the UK’s first female Muslim MPs.

On the episode, Katy Balls talks to Shabana about her upbringing in the UK and in Saudi Arabia; how her faith is central to who she is as a person; and her approach to the tricky issues of abortion and assisted dying.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The Spectator magazine is the greatest magazine of English language. Subscribe today for just £12

0:05.0

£12 and receive a 12-week subscription in print and online to see for yourselves. Also, against my advice as editor, we're giving away a free £20 £10,000 or Waitrose voucher.

0:16.0

Given that you're spending 12 quid, you can do the maths. Go to spectator.com.com.uk forward slash voucher. But

0:22.0

don't hurry because this offer probably loses us money.

0:29.2

Hello and welcome to women with balls where I catered balls speak to the day's trailblazers.

0:34.0

My guest today was born in Birmingham to migrant parents. After studying law at Lincoln College, Oxford, where Rishi Sunak was a contemporary, she qualified

0:42.3

as a barrister and lived and worked in London.

0:44.3

She was then elected to Parliament in 2010 representing her home constituency of Birmingham

0:49.3

Ladywood, and she was one of the first female Muslim MPs in UK Parliament.

0:54.9

She is now the only Muslim member of the Shadow Cabinet.

0:58.2

She served under Ed Miliband as well as Kistama,

1:01.1

but she did not serve under Jeremy Corbyn.

1:04.9

Stama appointed her the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice last year

1:07.9

and she will be the first female justice secretary for the Labour

1:11.2

Party if the party wins the next election. My guest today is Shabana Mahmoud. Shabana, thank you for

1:16.7

coming on the podcast today. Thank you. Now, we usually start by asking the same question, which

1:21.9

was your childhood a happy one? I think you spent the first couple of years of your life after being

1:26.5

born here in Saudi Arabia.

1:28.2

That's right. Yes. No, I had a very happy childhood. Slightly varied in experience. As you said,

1:33.1

I was born here. I have a twin brother. So we were both born 1980 and then soon afterwards,

1:39.4

my dad, because he's a civil engineer. So he was posted out to work for a British company

1:43.7

out in Saudi.

...

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