Sajid Javid speaks of first family trip to Israel
The former Chancellor was in conversation with the Daily Mail's Alex Brummer at the Asian-Jewish Business Network's largest event to date
Former Chancellor Sajid Javid has reflected on his first visit to Israel with his kids – revealing that booking the trip was one of the first things he did after leaving the Government.
The MP for Bromsgrove, who has also served as Home and Communities Secretary, was speaking at the flagship annual event of the Asian-Jewish Business Network at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster.
Interviewed by Daily Mail’s City editor and JN chairman Alex Brummer, Javid said: “Thankfully I’ve been (to Israel) many times but two of my daughters had really wanted to go for a very long time, and each time I had planned a trip, because I was a government minister at the time, something would come up and I would have to cancel. So one of the first things I did when I resigned and went back to the backbenches was rebook that trip and it was well worth it. I always like going there.”
Javid, who left his role as Health Secretary in July at the start of an avalanche of resignations from Boris Johnson’s government, famously told a Conservative Friends of Israel lunch several years ago that Israel would be his top choice if he ever had to pack up and leave the UK for the Middle East.
The AJBN’s day of networking also included panel discussions on property and international free trade free trade and attracted nearly 800 people on the day that had been expected to see the ‘Halloween Budget’.
While Javid acknowledged that the UK is facing challenging economic times with significant mistakes made by Liz Truss and her team, he said there is a lot to celebrate and be positive about including “the success of ethnic minorities.
“Especially in the field of business, whether Jewish, Asian or Black Afro Caribbean, there’s a disproportionate amount of business success and that is something we can all be very very proud of.”
Commenting on the historic appointment of Rishi Sunak, Britain’s first Asian prime minister, he said: “I’m incredibly proud of it and I think most of the country is. Trevor Noah got it completely wrong with his comments [in claiming Rishi Sunak experienced a racist “backlash” after becoming the UK’s first British-Asian Prime Minister.]
“With all the other political turmoil we have seen in the last months it’s hard to focus on this because no matter what your politics, Conservative or not, this is something we can all celebrate. In our great country today, that the person sitting in Number 10 – just a stone’s throw away from here – is from an ethnic minority and is an Asian Hindu is fantastic and I think says a lot for our great country”.
He went on to joke that “many Asian parents have very high expectations of their children perhaps becoming doctors and lawyers, and I think that’s been reset because of what Rishi has achieved!”
Among the guests on the day were Lord Howard Leigh, co-founder of Cavendish Corporate Finance and a Conservative peer. The AJBN was founded by Jewish News’ Justin Cohen and former colleague Russell Bahar.
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