Politics Home | Racist Debates Happening Now Weren’t Taking Place A Decade Ago, Warns Sajid Javid

The former Chancellor Sajid Javid said progress on social cohesion in the UK could be lost (Alamy)

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Javid, a former Conservative MP of 14 years who served in six secretary of state roles, told PoliticsHome that debates about whether non-white politicians like him and former prime minister Rishi Sunak are British were not taking place a decade ago.

Last month, Sunak described himself as “British, English and British Asian” after right-wing podcaster Konstantin Kisin said last year that the senior Conservative MP was not English because he is a “brown-skinned Hindu”.

Sunak, who was the country’s first British Asian prime minister, warned that the UK was at risk of “slipping back” to a time of more undisguised racism.

Speaking on this week’s episode of The Rundown podcast from PoliticsHome, Javid said the fact that this sort of talking point was going viral online in the present day demonstrated how the UK was at risk of going backwards when it comes to social cohesion.

Asked whether he was surprised by it, the former chancellor said: “In a way, yes, because no one was asking questions like that, even a decade ago…

“Take Rishi as a great example. He became prime minister of our country, and someone dares question whether he’s British or not?”

“Obviously, it’s complete nonsense,” Javid added, “and I think questions like that often come from a divisive place, and that’s just the kind of division I think the vast majority of British people don’t have time for. 

“But one of the challenges that we’re having in today’s world, and especially how people consume or get their news is that, if you’re only getting news from your echo chambers on your social media channels, and those channels are inevitably pushing out divisive content because that’s what gets the clicks, then that is one of the features of today’s society.”

In his new memoir, The Colour of Home, Javid explains how his parents came to the UK from Pakistan with little money and “became proudly British”.

Speaking on the podcast, the former Tory MP reiterated his belief that “Britain is the most successful multiracial democracy in the world”, but called on ministers to do more to protect the progress made since the racism he faced in his own childhood in 1970s Bristol.

One of the roles he has taken on since leaving Parliament in 2024 is heading up The Independent Commission on Community & Cohesion, along with Jon Cruddas, the former Labour MP for Dagenham.

“A good friend, but someone on a different side politically, but I think what we definitely agree on is the division, sadly, in the UK, broadly put, has been on the rise, as it has been in many countries,” he told PoliticsHome.

He said it will be looking at “what more can we do to bring people together to have less segregation, more integration”, but admits he could have done more during his time in office.

As communities secretary in 2016, Javid commissioned a report from Dame Louise Casey, which said there were “worrying levels of segregation” in the UK, leading him to publish a government green paper and integration strategy. 

“I was just sort of getting going with it, and then Brexit happened”, Javid told PoliticsHome, bemoaning the fact that many priorities were jettisoned in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, adding: “We basically lost focus on many things.”

Earlier this month, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed, announced a new social cohesion strategy, which included a new anti-Muslim hostility definition designed to help tackle rising abuse towards Muslims, as well as new government powers to close extremist charities and an additional £5m for the Common Ground Resilience Fund.

“Cohesion underpins our economic strength, our democratic freedom and our national security. It is a fundamental part of the Britain we love. We have made our choice in place of division, we choose unity, and we know the people of Britain have made the same choice,” Reed said.

The Rundown is presented by Alain Tolhurst, and is produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

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