Sir Sajid Javid - Former cabinet minister standing down as an MP

Overview

The Son of Pakistani migrants, Sir Sajid Javid was the first person of colour to hold one of the ‘Great Offices of State’. Javid achieved this in 2018, following his appointment as Home-Secretary in the wake of the Windrush scandal.

Having established himself as a key political player, Javid ran for the Conservative leadership in 2019, finishing in fourth place.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson then promoted Javid to the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, but Javid resigned from this role in February 2020.

He was the first, but not the last, sitting Cabinet Minister, to have a falling out with the former Downing Street advisor, Dominic Cummings.

With Cummings, long a figure from the past in Downing Street, Sajid Javid returned to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health in June 2021. Considered a safe pair of hands, Javid was appointed to replace Matt Hancock after he resigned following claims that he broke social distancing rules with a female aide.

Javid resigned as Health Secretary in July 2022, following further revelations involving the prime minister, Boris Johnson, notably around statements made in relation to the appointment of Chris Pincher MP as a deputy chief whip. Javid pointed to the need for integrity in government, and in his Commons resignation speech stated that he was no longer able to give Mr Johnson the ‘benefit of the doubt’.

In December 2022, Javid detailed plans to step down from Westminster at the next election.

The senior Conservative was knighted in the 2024 new year honours list.

Fast talking Mr Javid has now returned to front line politics.

Why Sajid Javid is standing down as an MP

Sajid Javid is the most high-profile Conservative MP to announce that he will be standing down at the next election.

Indeed, if there really is such thing as a Conservative “big beast”, then Sajid Javid, the former chancellor, health secretary, home secretary, culture secretary and business secretary, is surely one of them.

Javid and Johnson embrace during the election last year. This morning, the chancellor resigned.

Sajid Javid’s resignation as health secretary in July 2022 helped trigger Boris Johnson’s downfall

He is also a two-time Conservative leadership candidate, vying to replace Theresa May in 2019 and Boris Johnson in 2022.

However, in the 2019 race, Javid was eliminated on the fourth ballot; and in the 2022 contest in the summer, Javid failed to secure the backing of the necessary 20 Conservative Party MPs to qualify for the first ballot.

Given Javid’s lengthy and successful career, the former chancellor’s exit might not typically excite interest among observers at Westminster. However his departure, announced December 2022, served to the already-established view that Conservative MPs are making the decision to leave politics for greener pastures.

According to a report in the Financial Times at the time, Javid had already held talks with Pimco about a career after politics. Pimco is the world’s largest fixed income manager, and given Javid’s already significant city experience pre-politics, this may prove to be a natural move.

Such a career change would probably prove more fulfilling — not to mention more profitable — than an extended period in opposition.

Why are Conservative MPs bailing on parliament?

Things you might not know about Sajid Javid

The Bristol Street he grew up on was once said to be one of the most dangerous in Britain

Upon becoming Home Secretary, Javid claimed: ‘I grew up in what one tabloid dubbed Britain’s most dangerous street. It’s not so difficult to see how, instead of being in the Cabinet, I could have actually turned out to have had a life of crime myself’.

Javid lived with his four brothers in a two-bedroom flat in Bristol. Similar to London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, Javid’s father was a bus driver.

His father arrived in the UK with £1 in his pocket

Reportedly, Javid’s father came to the UK in 1961 from Pakistan with only £1 in his pocket.

Javid was advised to become a TV Repair Man at school

At school, Javid was recommended to pursue a career in TV repair.

Political Career

Sajid Javid was first elected to Parliament as the Conservative MP for Bromsgrove in the West Midlands at the 2010 General Election.

Upon arriving at Westminster, Javid’s rise was nothing short of meteoric. In 2011, Sajid was named Parliamentary Private Secretary to George Osborne. Just one year later, Javid became Economic Secretary to the Treasury, before becoming Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 2013.

After only being in Parliament for four years, Javid was promoted to the Cabinet in 2014, becoming Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Javid held this position until 2015 when he became the Secretary of State for Business. During his short tenure in this role, Javid was confronted with the potential closure of the Port Talbot Steel Works.

Following David Cameron’s resignation, Javid’s career took somewhat of a hit.

In the ensuing 2016 Conservative leadership election, Javid was part of a joint leadership bid with Stephen Crabb, but their efforts hardly got off the ground. When Theresa May became Prime Minister, Javid was made Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, a slightly less high-profile brief than that of Business Secretary.

Two years later following Amber Rudd’s resignation as Home Secretary, Javid was promoted to Home Secretary, becoming the first person of colour to hold a ‘Great Office of State’.

In 2019, Javid once again mounted a campaign for the Conservative Leadership, but he failed to secure the support of enough MPs to make it through to the final ballot of Party Members. Despite coming fourth in that contest, Javid was subsequently appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Javid’s 204 day spell as Chancellor of the Exchequer was short but tumultuous. Having been appointed on 24 July 2019, Javid became the first British Chancellor of the Exchequer in fifty years not to deliver a budget.

In August 2019, early tensions between the Treasury and No.10 came to a head when Dominic Cummings sacked a key Javid aide without the Chancellor’s permission. As a part of her dismissal, it was alleged that Cummings asked an armed officer to escort the lady off the premises.

In February 2020, Johnson began his post-election reshuffle. Javid was told he could stay on as Chancellor, but on the condition that he sacked his remaining advisers. Javid resigned, citing that his authority was being undermined and stating that, ‘no self-respecting Minister would accept those terms’. Javid’s replacement was his then Deputy, Rishi Sunak.

Following his high-profile resignation as Chancellor, Javid took up a job with the investment bank JP Morgan as part of their Advisory Council for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Still an MP and with only 6 months separating his time at the Treasury, this appointment proved controversial. It opened up questions of a ‘revolving door’ between the Treasury and the City.

Nonetheless, many were right to suggest that Mr Javid was not finished with frontline politics.

In June 2021, he quickly gave up his new found outside interests to return to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health. He lasted just 13 months in the role, before resigning from the Johnson cabinet for the second time.

He briefly stood as a candidate for the Conservative leadership in July 2022 but failed to secure enough MP votes to take him deep into the 2022 contest.

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Political Views

Given that Javid has a picture of Margaret Thatcher hung on his office wall, there are no prizes for guessing his ideological outlook.

Considered to be on the right of the Conservative Party, Javid said long-before the 2016 EU referendum: ‘We have virtually no control over EU immigration … [we need] more control over [our] borders’.

Given this, many were surprised when Javid came out in favour of ‘Remain’ in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Javid was though far from a Remain fanatic telling reporters on the eve of the poll: ‘With a heavy heart and no enthusiasm, I shall be voting for the UK to remain a member of the European Union’.

Background

How old is Sajid Javid?

Sajid Javid was born to Pakistani migrants on the 5th of December 1969. He went to a comprehensive school in Bristol and enrolled at a local technical college in 1986.

Javid has spoken out about the racist attacks that he and his brothers suffered during their youth in Bristol.

Is Baz Javid related to Sajid Javid?

Baz Javid is the Deputy Assistant Commissioner at Metropolitan Police, a role he has held since March 2021. He was a commander in the Met between 2019 and 2021, and formerly a Chief Superintendent in the West Midland’s Police.

Baz Javid is the older brother of Sajid Javid.

What did Sajid Javid do before politics?

After graduating from Exeter University, Javid landed a job with Chase Manhattan Bank. By the age of 25, Javid had become the Bank’s youngest-ever Vice President. In 1992, Javid moved to New York where he campaigned for then-New York Mayoral candidate, Rudy Giuliani.

After returning to the UK, Javid took a senior job with Deutsche Bank.

Is Sajid Javid married?

Javid married his childhood sweetheart, Laura King, in 1997. The couple have four children.