Midland MP Javid favourite to be the next Tory leader
BROMSGROVE MP Sajid Javid has emerged as the favourite to become the next leader of the Conservative Party.
The high-flying MP, who is currently Home Secretary, topped the poll in a survey of party activists by website ConservativeHome.
He beat Environment Secretary and Brexit campaigner Michael Gove, who came second, and backbench MP Jacob Ress-Mogg, who was third.
ConservativeHome runs regular surveys of its readers and this is the first time Mr Javid has come top.
He has made a splash since becoming Home Secretary in April, condemning the Government’s “hostile environment” immigration policy, calling for more police funding and intervening to ensure a six-year-old boy named Alfie Dingley can receive cannabis oil to treat his epilepsy.
Mr Javid’s father was a bus driver who came to this country from Pakistan with £1 in his pocket. The MP was educated at Exeter University and had a career as a banker before entering politics.
He has been MP for Bromsgrove since 2010. Mr Javid has served as Culture Secretary, Business Secretary and Local Government Secretary.
One of his brothers, Bas, is a senior police officer in West Midlands Police.
The Conservative Party is likely to have a leadership election before the next general election, which means the next Tory leader is likely to become Prime Minister automatically.
ConservativeHome editor Paul Goodman, writing on the website, said party members may want a leader who wasn’t a senior figure in last year’s bungled general election campaign.
He said: “Javid may offer what Party members seem to have been looking for since we restored the Next Tory Leader question: something new – a change from the old gang.”