Son of a bus driver from Pakistan

SAJID JAVID, 49

PITCH: Wants the Tories to be the party of social mobility – which is no surprise considering he has the most aspirationally successful back-story. Still to formally declare but an announcement is expected. Married to Laura, pictured, he is one of five sons of an immigrant Pakistani who came to the UK with just £1 and gained the nickname ‘ Mr Night and Day’ because he worked ‘every hour that God sent his way’. After stints in a Rochdale cotton mill and as a bus driver, Javid’s father bought a small clothing store in Stapleton Road, Bristol. His young family were billeted in a two-bedroom flat upstairs. ‘ Three brothers were in one bedroom and myself and a younger brother were with my parents in the other.’ Stapleton Road was once named ‘ Britain’s worst street’ by a Sunday newspaper, which dubbed it a ‘lawless hellhole where murder, rape, shootings, drugpushing, prostitution, knifings and violent robbery are commonplace’. Javid worked in the City before entering politics and becoming the first non-white Briton to hold one of the four great offices of state.

BREXIT: A former Remainer – ‘but with a heavy heart and no enthusiasm’ – he backs Brexit. As such, better positioned than a staunch Leaver or Remainer to unite the party.

SUPPORTERS: MPs such as Robert Halfon and Chris Skidmore who believe his refugee family roots-to-riches personal story can reconnect the Tory Party with disaffected voters.