Sajid Javid - profile: the working class Conservative taking over from Maria Miller as Culture Secretary
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Version 0 of 1. Sajid Javid, the new Culture Secretary, was widely seen as the brightest star of the new intake of 128 Conservative MPs who entered the Commons at the 2010 general election. Tory insiders were quick to mark him out as a potential future leader. Mr Javid, 44, is one of the few working class Conservatives in the Cabinet. He was born in Rochdale, the son of a bus driver of British-Pakistani descent. He grew up in Bristol, where he went to a comprehensive school before studying economics and politics at Exeter University. After that he joined Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and became the youngest-ever vice-president at the age of 24. He moved to London in 1997, and joined Deutsche Bank as a director in 2000, becoming managing director four years later. His rapid rise in the City was repeated after he became MP for Bromsgrove, where he succeeded Julie Kirkbride, who resigned following allegations about her expenses. He became a parliamentary private secretary to John Hayes, the Skills Minister, only six months after entering the Commons and the following year took on the same job for George Osborne, the Chancellor. In 2012 he was promoted to his first ministerial job as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. A confident media performer, he won plaudits from Tory MPs, impressed the Chancellor and was moved up one rung on the ladder to the number three post at the Treasury, as Financial Secretary, last October. Mr Javid’s appointment to the Cabinet will not come as a surprise at Westminster and has probably happened only a matter of weeks earlier than David Cameron had planned. He had been widely tipped for promotion in the reshuffle the Prime Minister is expected to carry out after next month’s European Parliament elections. The father of four has said his own family’s heritage is Muslim but that he does not practise any religion. His wife is a Christian. |