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Gerald Shamash, Baron Shamash
British lawyer and politician (born 1947) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gerald David Shamash, Baron Shamash[1] (born 1947) is a British lawyer and life peer. He has acted as a solicitor for the Labour Party since 1990 and was appointed a member of the House of Lords in 2024.
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Early life and education
Shamash was born in 1947[2][3] in Manchester to Iraqi Jewish[3] parents who came to England from Baghdad.[3] The family moved to London when Shamash's brother-in-law (and first cousin) Robert Sheldon was elected to Parliament in 1964.[4] Shamash joined the Labour Party in 1969 after involvement in student politics and the Anti-Apartheid Movement.[3]
Shamash attended North Cestrian Grammar School and Burnage Grammar School in Greater Manchester, and studied human and physical sciences at the University of Surrey to become a dentist before training to become a solicitor.[2][3]
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Career
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At the suggestion of his wife and her father, Shamash took up the study of law and qualified as a solicitor in 1976. His early legal career, at PR Kimber, was in criminal and personal-injury law. With Elaine Steel, he founded Steel & Shamash in 1981, based in Waterloo.[4] One of the first firms to be granted a Legal Aid Agency contract,[5] it merged with Edwards Duthie in 2019 to form Edwards Duthie Shamash,[2] and Shamash heads its parliamentary, electoral and media law practice.[6]
Shamash has acted as a solicitor for the Labour Party since 1990,[6] having worked for the party since at least 1983.[2] He advised Labour during the Cash-for-Honours and parliamentary expenses scandals, and acted for public figures affected by the phone-hacking scandal.[4]
In the 1979 general election, Shamash stood unsuccessfully as a Labour Party candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Shoreham.[2][4] He was subsequently elected a member of Barnet London Borough Council at the 1986 and 1990 council elections, representing the ward of Burnt Oak for two terms. Shamash has served as a magistrate in London since 1985.[4]
Shamash was nominated by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for a life peerage[5][7] and was created Baron Shamash, of West Didsbury in the City of Manchester, on 6 March 2024.[1]
On 31 July 2025, he was a leading signatory of a letter from 38 House of Lords members opposing the UK's plan to recognise a State of Palestine: the peers said Palestine “does not meet the international law criteria for recognition of a state, namely, defined territory, a permanent population, an effective government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states”.[8]
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Personal life
Shamash is married to Naomi Angell, a specialist in international adoption law;[4] they have three children who were adopted from South America.[3] He is a supporter of Manchester United Football Club and chaired the Manchester United Supporters' Trust from 2012 to 2021.[2][9]
Shamash is Jewish but not religious.[3]
References
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