Former BBYO leader among 11 Tory MPs bidding to be prime minister
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps , who is Jewish, is among the 11 contenders to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader. Many have close links with the community.
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
In his youth he was the president of the largest Jewish youth organisation BBYO, but today Grant Shapps has his eye on a rather bigger job, the leadership of the Conservative Party.
The Transport Secretary is one of eleven expected candidates joining the race to be the next Tory leader, following Boris Johnson’s resignation from the job last week.
Shapps, 53, has spoken openly about his Jewish background in the past, once saying:”I feel totally Jewish; I am totally Jewish. I don’t eat pork, we only buy kosher meat and we don’t mix meat and milk. I like being Jewish and I married a Jewish girl.”
But he also added:”All of that makes me seem as though I am quite observant but actually the flipside of this is I don’t know if there is a God or not.
But one thing I am absolutely certain of is that God wouldn’t care if you were Jewish or Christian or Muslim.”
Announcing his bid to become the next Prime Minister, Shapps has positioned himself as the candidate interested in “bread and butter issues” and not some concerned with attacks on “woke issues.”
As a teenager, he was an active member of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organisation (BBYO), rising to become its national president in the 1980s. He has been back on visits to the youth group since.
The most Jewish leadership contender, Shapps is not the only on the lengthy list, which will be whittled down to just two over the next fortnight, to have close ties to the community.
Cabinet ministers Nadhim Zahawi and Sajid Javid have both endeared themselves to the community with their frequent attacks on antisemitism, with the former Education Secretary leading the attacks on the NUS over its record in relation to Jewish students.
Former Health Secretary Javid has been a staunch supporter of Israel throughout his political career, and a regular attendee and speaker at communal charity events, such as last week’s Jewish Care fundraiser.
Both Zahawi, now chancellor, and Javid launched their leadership bids promising to reverse tax rises implemented under the former PM.
Javid, writing on a visit to Israel in 2019, said:”My interest in Israel long preceded my time in politics. The first time I heard the word ‘Israel’ as a child was when my father, a Muslim, strongly defended the locally controversial decision of my brother’s school to organise a trip there.
“Why not, he argued. They are a proud people and we can only benefit from more interaction, not less.”
In controversial comments Zahawi once suggested that the chant ‘From the river to the sea’ as used at some pro-palestinian demos could lead to police charges.
He said last year:”As I said, any form of antisemitism, of prejudice, of promoting the murder of Jewish people, Jewish students, is in my book antisemitism and therefore universities should act on it.”
Attorney General Suella Braverman, who is making a pitch as to more hardline Brexiteers, grew up as a “proud British Asian”. But in an interview with Jewish News last November, she also revealed herself to be “the number one” fan of her in-law’s Friday night dinners.
The Tory high-flyer, who had her first child with her Jewish husband Rael in 2019 said the family, who had previously made aliyah and contributed as members of Bushey Synagogue, had welcomed her “with an open heart.”
She added: “I’m the number one supporter of Friday night dinners at my husband’s family – including chicken schnitzel.”
As one of the favourites to succeed Johnson, former chancellor Rishi Sunak, has pledged to unite the country, citing his experience of leading the country through the pandemic as evidence of his ability.
In the past Sunak, brought up as a Hindu, has openly expressed his admiration for the Jewish community and its values and institutions.
He has said Jewish charities “play an incredibly important part in the social fabric of this country.”
As chancellor he also stressed that the government remained “wholly committed” to protecting current spending levels on Jewish community security.
In a debate on the contribution of Jews to wider society he once told the Commons:“Despite only ever forming a small percentage of the population, British Jews have shone in almost every field.
“They have inspired and entertained, created and innovated.”
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who opened her campaign to become PM on Monday, again by promising tax cuts on an “economy, economy, economy” platform, had also make no secret of her admiration for the state of Israel.
Enthusiastically backed by Lord Austin, appointed Trade Envoy to Israel in 2019, Truss has described Israel as a “great friend” as she pushes ahead with final details on a free trade deal with the Jewish state.
She was due to make a further visit to Israel this month, although that is likely to be postponed as a result of the leadership contest.
Penny Mordaunt, the trade minister, has pledged to make her campaign “less about the leader, more about the ship”.
In the past she has also been outspoken on issues around antisemitism.
At the 2018 Sara Conference in London she observed:“All of us have faced misogyny and abuse, and many also have faced danger.
“But I think the venom that my Jewish female colleagues are having to endure is something else.”
One year later as International Development Secretary, Mordaunt was urged by Conservative Friends of Israel to take a tougher line over the Government’s financial support for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA).
Another contender to follow Johnson at the top of the Tory Party is Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the powerful Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
Perhaps the most outspoken critic of the former PM, while he was still leader, Tugendhat has repeatedly won support within the community, telling Jewish News in May of his belief the Tory Party needed the “right team” at the top of the party” to retain support.
Tugendhat, a name that stems from the MP’s grandfather, who was grew up in Vienna, Austria, as a Jew, before converted to Catholicism to marry, has promised a “fresh start” with “new energy and ideas” if made leader later this year.
As a minister Jeremy Hunt, who says he is standing in the contest to “restore trust” in government, also made regular attempts to show his appreciation of the Jewish community in this country.
As Foreign Secretary he visited Westminster Synagogue ahead of Pesach, saying the festival showed “the arc of history from ancient Egypt, to the Holocaust and the freedom of the modern state of Israel, a thriving democracy, and a huge achievement for all humanity.”
In his 2019 bid to become Tory leader he also recalled his earlier introduction to the community.
“One of my best friends at school was Jewish and he went on to become Chasidic,” recalled Hunt.
“His wedding was something I’ll never forget. It was a surreal experience going to a synagogue where not only was there a screen down the middle separating men and women, but where the men, including Israeli soldiers with their guns, all danced together.” He added his “fundamental support” for both the community and for Israel was “always there”.
Kemi Badenoch, the former Equalities Minister, has also put her name into the ring for the leadership contest.
Promising to bring back a “smart and nimble centre-right vision” she had been unafraid to speak out on issues such as Labour antisemitism under Jeremy Corbyn in the past.
In a 2017 interview she said of Corbyn’s party: “They’ve created groups that have ticks, and groups with crosses… they’ve picked the religion they support.
“It’s not everybody. It’s certainly very anti-Judaism. Probably neutral on Christianity, neutral to negative. And then they have chosen to be pro the Muslim community in a way they have not been in the past.”
During a visit to Rome earlier this year, to meet the Pope and Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, Badenoch also spoke of how “the Holocaust, which saw the murder of six million Jewish men, women and children, provides a stark reminder of where hatred and intolerance can lead.
“Eleven MPs, expected to also include Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has made her support and admiration of the community no secret throughout her time in government, are expected to compete to replace Johnson in a process formally beginning on Monday.
The party is likely to set a threshold of at least 20 MPs to get on the ballot paper, before the list is whittled down to two names by the end of next week.
Rehman Chishti, a newly promoted minister, became a surprise name bidding to lead the Tory Party, citing “aspirational Conservatism” in his campaign.
Previously the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion, he had visited Bevis Marks Synagogue for Chunakah last year for a video put online by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
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