Shabana Mahmood reveals she was labelled an ‘infidel’ by Gaza campaigners

She added said that in 15 years of political life she had “been branded many things, an infidel amongst them on a number of occasions”.

However, the MP for Birmingham Ladywood, where nearly 50 per cent of voters are Muslim, pushed back against any suggestion the entirety of the residents of the area where she grew were “extremists or intolerant”.

But she did acknowledge the difficulties she and a number of other Labour candidates faced as a result of the party’s stance on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, saying: “I think there are particular issues in politics and Gaza, I think, has played out in its own difficult way, particularly for the Labour Party”.

Mahmood faced a challenge from lawyer Akhmed Yakoob, who a month prior to the general election came third in the election for Mayor of the West Midlands.

Known for his viral videos often featuring flashy cars, Yakoob placed the issue of Gaza at the forefront of both of his campaigns and had stated that Zionism was a “fascist ideology” and that Zionists “control everything”.

In a speech in 2024 he said: “I know now why Allah has put me in this position, it’s to challenge the Zionist regime, challenge the elites of this country and the world… We live in a world that slowly is getting controlled by these elites.”

In video of a speech he posted on X the day before the general election, Yakoob said: “We need to send a clear message to the Labour Party and to the Zionist Keir Starmer that we will be united on this cause. We will be united for our brothers and sisters in Gaza and everywhere else where injustice is happening” and encouraged people to vote against what he called “Zionist genocidal enablers”.

Mahmood’s majority was reduced from 28,582 at the 2019 general election to 3,421 last year.

Despite this, Mahmood told Robinson that even those who disagreed with Labour’s stance on Gaza disapproved of her being called an infidel: “There were just as many people in my own community who were also assisting me and supporting me through that difficult time. Many people who still disagree with me politically … would say it is crossing a line to start calling someone else an infidel.”