I’m not another old school tie, so that’s why I’d be best PM: The Saj
SAJID Javid took aim at his rivals’ privileged backgrounds last night as he urged Tory MPs to back him as a ‘next generation’ leader.
In a pointed reference to the private school past of Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the Home Secretary warned the party against picking ‘the same old insiders with the same old school ties’.
At his leadership campaign launch in Westminster, Mr Javid styled himself as an ‘outsider’ and a ‘change candidate’ who had fought to get to the top.
And in a sobering message, he warned his party it needed to change to reconnect with voters who ‘don’t think we understand their values or understand their needs’.
Branding Mr Johnson ‘yesterday’s news’, he criticised members of the ‘Westminster elite’ who had never had to ‘fight to get their foot in the door’. Mr Johnson was educated at Eton while Mr Hunt, the son of an admiral, attended Charterhouse.
Mr Javid, whose father was an immigrant from Pakistan, went to a comprehensive school near Bristol and attended further education college.
Asked about Mr Johnson, he accused the leadership frontrunner of exploiting division in politics instead of bringing people together.
‘I’m concerned about the rise of division in politics,’ he said. ‘Sadly some politicians think the way to win votes is to exploit these divisions.
‘It’s not something I want to see in our country.’
After a slow start to his campaign, Mr Javid’s hopes have been bolstered by a well-received campaign video, released on Tuesday, which told the story of his life.
Yesterday he made a highly personal speech, in which he described changing his route to school to avoid racist thugs, and said members of his extended family warned him not to marry his ‘ white Christian’ wife Laura because they would have ‘ half caste’ children’.
He said he had broken through ‘ barriers’ to get to work in the City and to join the Conservative Party.
Now, he argued, the party needed to change, having won only one general election outright in the last 25 years.
He said it could not carry on appealing to a ‘narrow base that is getting narrower over time’ adding that a ‘new kind of leader’ was needed to appeal to younger voters, ethnic minorities, women and the working classes.
Pointing to the 19th Century Jewish Tory leader Benjamin Disraeli, he said the party had the chance to choose ‘another outsider’ as prime minister.
Rounding on the ‘Westminster elite’ he said they have ‘always been insiders, never had to fight like the rest of us just to get their foot in the door.
‘It wasn’t being born to rule, or having connections, that got me where I am today – it was hard work, public services and my family’, Mr Javid said.
He argued that his experience of negotiating ‘multi, multi-billion dollar deals’ showed he could secure a good Brexit deal.
But he said Brexit was only the ‘first step’ the country needed to take.
‘It might surprise some people here in Westminster, but most people in this country don’t just talk about Brexit all the time – and we have to show them that we understand normal life,’ he said. ‘We need tomorrow’s leader, today. Not the same old insiders with the same old school ties, but a new generation with a new agenda.
‘And that means understanding that we cannot call ourselves a One Nation party if whole swathes of that nation don’t think we understand their values or understand their needs.’
On Mr Johnson, he said: ‘I’m a change candidate. Boris Johnson is yesterday’s news.
‘He’s been around in politics for a while, he’s achieved a lot, he’s still got a big role to play, but I think if we are trying to connect with the next generation and move forward as a country then I think it’s time for the next generation with a bold new agenda.’ Mr Javid was introduced by Scots Tory leader Ruth Davidson, who criticised ‘populist leaders’ who ‘sow division and reap the rewards’ and hailed Mr Javid’s ‘determination and guts’.
He said his policy priorities would be education and policing, and that he wanted to make sure the Government is ‘supporting families in everything it does’.
‘Boris Johnson is yesterday’s news’