Javid: I’m too brown for the Right... but not brown enough for the Left

Tory’s £200k for Farage

SAJID Javid has described how he faces criticism for being ‘too brown’ from the Right – and ‘ not brown enough’ from the Left.

In an interview in which he hinted that he wants to be prime minister, the Home Secretary revealed yesterday that he had received abuse daily ‘because of my colour’.

He said he had ‘sadly got used to’ it but had tried to fight it in every government role he had been in.

Mr Javid, the son of Pakistani immigrants, is among a long lineup of MPs jostling to replace Theresa May as Tory leader.

When asked if he could be prime minister, he told the BBC Radio 4 Political Thinking With Nick Robinson podcast: ‘You’ll have to wait and see.’

Mr Javid, a non-practising Muslim, added that anyone could be prime minister regardless of background or faith, in what will be interpreted by some as his pitch for the Conservative leadership.

Asked if Britain was ready for a Muslim prime minister, Mr Javid said: ‘I think in Britain anyone who’s capable, regardless of whether they’re Muslim or Hindu, for that matter, or any other religion or no religion, can be prime minister.’

He added that whether the position was prime minister or boss of a big company, he did not believe ‘the colour of your skin or your religious background… prevents you from achieving that’.

Shortly after Mr Javid became the first ethnic minority Briton appointed to one of the Great Offices of State – the four most important government positions – in April last year he was called the offensive terms ‘coconut’ and ‘Uncle Tom’ by Left-wing activists. The Home Secretary revealed yesterday that he receives racist abuse on social media on a daily basis and that ‘ they don’t like me because of my colour’. He said: ‘If you look at social media on Racist abuse: Sajid Javid any day, especially Twitter or something, I’m getting abuse every day and I get it, I actually get it from the Left.

‘You know the far-Left, let’s say including lots of Asians, who would say “he’s not brown enough”. I get it from the Right and the far-Right in particular, saying “he’s too brown”.

‘So those critics, they’ve got a lot in common. They don’t like me because of my colour and they believe, whether you’re coming from the farLeft, the far-Right, that someone’s colour should define who they are.

‘Or their background, their faith or something that characteristic, rather than the content of their character.’

Mr Javid added: ‘That is something that sadly I’ve got used to. I don’t like it.

‘I try to fight it more broadly in terms of the work I do, especially through the Home Office and the important role we have in fighting hate crime, but I’ve tried to do it in every government role I’ve ever been in.’ He also revealed how his father was originally prevented from becoming a bus driver by the Greater Manchester Bus Authority because it would not allow ‘non-white drivers’.

He used the interview to deliver a fresh warning to Tory Brexiteers that they ‘could lose Brexit altogether’ unless they back Mrs May’s deal.

The Home Secretary said it would be an ‘absolute disaster’ if pro-Remain MPs were able to stop the withdrawal process under Article 50, the formal mechanism for leaving the EU.

He urged Conservative MPs and their allies in the DUP to get behind the Prime Minister’s agreement to ensure Britain leaves the EU in an ‘orderly way’.