Javid: I could have been lured into a life of crime
... and I fear for safety of my children on our streets
SAJID Javid has revealed how he was almost lured into a life of shoplifting and drug-dealing as a schoolboy.
He spoke of his upbringing on one of the most dangerous streets in Britain, where he was encouraged by gangs to make ‘easy money’.
In a surprising admission, the Home Secretary also said that he did not feel safe on the streets today and often feared for his own children.
Speaking candidly, he said he had ‘stayed up late at night many times’ after they had gone out ‘waiting for the key to turn in the front door’.
Mr Javid made his remarks yesterday in what was his first major speech on crime since being appointed Home Secretary last April. Knife crime is now at its highest level since records began and there were 285 killings by knives or a sharp instrument in 2017/18.
Mr Javid – seen as one of the frontrunners to succeed Theresa May – said he was ‘lucky’ to have avoided a life of crime himself.
Addressing 100 police chiefs and charity leaders at an event in east London, he said: ‘I grew up on what was once tabloid- dubbed Britain’s most dangerous street.
‘It’s not so difficult to see how instead of being in the Cabinet I could have turned out to have a life of crime myself.
‘There were the pupils at my school that shoplifted and they asked me if I wanted to help. There were the drug addicts who stood near my school gates and told me that if I joined in I too could make some easy money.
‘But I was lucky. I had loving and supportive parents who despite their own circumstances, gave me the security that I needed.
‘I had some brilliant teachers who motivated me and took me much further than I think that even they expected.
‘ I even had a girlfriend who believed in me and supported me despite my lack of prospects and then went on to become my wife. Thanks to them all, I have built a better life for myself and my family.’
Mr Javid, 49, was brought up in a two-bedroom flat in Stapleton Road, Bristol, above the family shop. The mile-and-a-half long street has previously been described as the most dangerous in Britain with a crime rate of 250 offences per 1,000 population. But Mr Javid said there were many other streets which were ‘dangerous’ and ‘ sometimes deadly’ because they had not prospered.
He said he often worried for his
‘Drug addicts near my school gates’ ‘What if they get into an argument?’
own children – he has three daughters and a son aged between ten and 19. ‘What affects me more is my job as a father,’ he said. ‘Take knife crime. Like everyone else I see the reports on young people who feel the need to carry weapons. It makes me worry about my own teenage children.
‘Will they be hurt if they are out in the wrong place at the wrong time? What if they get into an argument that then escalates?
‘I may be the Home Secretary but I’m not ashamed to confess that I’ve stayed up late at night many times waiting for the key to turn in the front door and only then going to bed safe in the knowledge that my children are home, safe and sound.
‘I find it hard to detach the personal from the policy. So I know that if I don’t feel safe on the streets, if I don’t think the streets feel safe for my own children, or if we see communities that are being torn apart by crime, then something has gone terribly wrong.’
The Office for National Statistics said in February that the number of fatal stabbings had reached its highest level since records began in 1946, with 285 in 2017/18. There were 39,818 knife offences in the 12 months to September 2018 – the highest number since comparable data was compiled.
Mr Javid went on to criticise middle- class drug users for this rise in violent crime and said their habits were ‘adding fuel to the fire that is engulfing our communities’. He also defended his decision last month to give police more stop and search powers, insisting it ‘saves lives’.