‘Face of the modern Tory party’: Sajid Javid tipped for the top

When Sajid Javid was photographed apparently striking a “power pose” outside the Home Office on his first day as home secretary, he set the Conservative party alight with speculation that he was aiming for the top job.

The stance, a favourite of Tory heavyweights including Theresa May and George Osborne, had become synonymous with thrusting ambition. Along with his elevation to a senior post, it propelled him to the top of the party leadership rankings.

It later transpired he had been tricked by photographers who asked him to take a step forward and captured him mid-adjustment. But it is at such moments that leadership campaigns are conceived. Days later a ConservativeHome poll of party members put him third in the race to succeed the prime minister.

Those closest to Javid have tried, with limited degrees of success, to dampen down the rumours. One friend told the Guardian: “We know more than anyone from experience that things can change. There is no point in trying to bank that and believe all the hype.

“Amber Rudd was supposed to be the great white hope for a lot of people, and look how that ended up. In that department, if you’re not keeping an eye on the job at hand it can all go horribly wrong.”

When David Cameron stood down in 2016, Javid launched a joint leadership bid with the then work and pensions secretary, Stephen Crabb, which would have made him chancellor to Crabb’s prime minister.

The pair billed themselves as “blue collar” Conservatives, in contrast to rivals such as Boris Johnson, but their campaign had barely begun when they withdrew, and Javid threw his weight behind May.

Javid, 48, has a backstory many politicians would give their right arm for. His father, Abdul, arrived from Pakistan in 1961with a £1 note in his pocket and settled in Rochdale, where he worked as a bus conductor. The family moved to Bristol where Javid’s parents eventually opened a shop.

A career adviser at Javid’s comprehensive school suggested he become a TV repair man, advice he ignored by applying to study economics and politics at Exeter and then embarking on a successful banking career. He was eventually headhunted by Deustche Bank on a reported salary – which he has never denied – of £3m.

His political rise has been swift. Osborne identified him as a potential star and brought him into the Treasury. He was promoted to the cabinet in 2014 as culture secretary and moved to business the following year. May moved him to communities – at the time considered a demotion – where he dealt with the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

His appointment as home secretary came as a surprise to many as Javid and the prime minister had not always seen eye to eye. But from the off he was his own man, and he appears to have got away with it.

In his first statement to the Commons he disowned May’s “hostile environment” policy on immigration, which had led to the Windrush scandal, and in the six weeks that followed he made peace with the Police Federation, lifted the immigration cap for NHS doctors and nurses, and announced a review of medicinal cannabis oil – 24 hours after May had rejected the idea.

Whitehall officials say Javid is a pragmatist who is unafraid of telling his boss she is wrong. One said: “He has a great advantage in that he has been a big decision-maker in private life, he is terribly energetic and doesn’t take no for an answer. If there’s a problem he wants to deal with it.”

Tory insiders believe a British Asian prime minister – the first – could be a great electoral asset, especially one who believes in free markets. “The left of the party loves him because of who he is; the right do too because of his fiscal views,” said one cabinet minister. “He’s the face of the modern Tory party,” one MP added.

Javid has always embraced his diversity but does not want it to define him. “I don’t think of myself as an Asian-background politician, I think of myself as a politician,” he has said.

Even some Labour politicians offer warm words. Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, told the Guardian: “Saj hasn’t forgotten his roots or his heritage. It’s a testament to his family and his work ethic that he has broken through the glass ceiling.”

In a party deeply divided by Brexit, Javid’s position as a reluctant remainer would just about keep both sides happy. “You don’t have to think we absolutely must be out of the European Union to slightly worry about where this is going,” said one ally.

Several cabinet colleagues are impressed. One minister admitted: “I am a fan. He has been nice and punchy. Question is, is he brave enough? I don’t know the answer to that.” But Javid is unlikely to challenge May directly. “He’s very loyal,” one Tory MP said. “He’s not a plotter.”

Nickie Aiken, the Tory leader of Westminster council and an old university friend of Javid’s, said: “I certainly think he could go all the way if that’s what he wanted, but at the moment he’s concentrating on the Home Office.”

When the inevitable contest does take place, there is likely to be a crowded field of candidates. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has also been tipped for the top. A cabinet minister told the Guardian: “Of the two, there is only one that has got what it takes and that’s Sajid. He’s nailing it at the Home Office.”

But not everybody is enamoured. A Tory MP said: “Anybody who thinks Sajid is a runner has clearly never heard him speak. He’s wooden, he can’t connect with a crowd.” Some of his early TV and despatch box appearances elicited grimaces from colleagues.

At the Home Office he will either sink or swim. A growing number in the party think it will be the latter. After he was appointed, a Twitter meme appeared featuring the 1992 Tory election poster. “What does the Conservative party offer a working-class kid from Brixton? They made him prime minister.” Javid’s picture replaced that of John Major.