Yahoo News Sajid Javid says Boris Johnson is 'yesterday's news' at campaign launch
Sajid Javid has described Boris Johnson as “yesterday’s news” as he made his formal pitch for the Conservative leadership, with a speech touting himself as a new kind of leader who could better connect the party to modern Britain.
The home secretary, the last of 10 would-be successors to Theresa May to launch their campaigns, ahead of a first round of voting by MPs on Thursday, likened himself to Ruth Davidson and Benjamin Disraeli as an outsider who could move the party forwards.
During a speech in which he regularly took aim at Johnson, albeit often obliquely, Javid said the Tories would not win an election “by galvanising a narrow base, a base that, let’s be honest, is getting narrower all the time”.
Saying the party and country had to tackle much more than just Brexit, Javid said: “At this moment, as we face the challenges that are unlike any that we have faced before, this calls for a new kind of leadership from a new kind of leader.
“A leader is not just for Christmas, or just for Brexit. We can’t risk going with someone who feels like the short-term, comfort-zone choice.” Voters, he added, did not want to see “the same old insiders with the same old school ties”.
Javid was more explicit in a subsequent question-and-answer session with journalists, in which he was asked to describe how he differed from Johnson, the former foreign secretary, who launched his campaign earlier in the day.
“I’d say I’m a change candidate. Boris Johnson is yesterday’s news,” Javid said. “He’s been around in politics for a while, he’s achieved a lot, and he’s still got a big role to play.
“But I think that if we are trying to connect with the next generation and move forward as a country, then I think it’s time for the next generation, with a bold new agenda.”
The speech, like Javid’s campaign video, drew heavily on his background as the son of parents who moved to the UK from Pakistan, describing facing racism and other barriers, including jibes that the four children he has with his white British wife would be “half-caste”. Javid said: “They are full British and they are playing their role in modern Britain.”
He was introduced by Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, who endorsed him. “We have to speak the language of modern Britain, and if we want people’s votes, we have to show that we share their values, their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations,” she told the crowd.
“They have to be able to look at the leader of our country and see something of themselves.”
In response, Javid likened himself to Davidson, who has revived her party. “The Scottish Conservatives threw out central casting and they elected somebody totally different. Someone who made people look at our party again,” he said. “The change that she’s brought to Holyrood is the change I will bring to Westminster.”
Saying he could attract younger and more diverse voters to the Tories, Javid also compared himself to Disraeli, who he called another “outsider”, saying he wanted to adopt his idea of one-nation conservatism.
In contrast, in another apparent reference to Johnson, he said some other candidates wanted to “double down” on divisions. “We are at a crossroads and we must stop our country going down the wrong direction,” the home secretary said.
On policies, Javid promised a £100bn national infrastructure fund, based outside London; more funding for schools, colleges and the NHS; and an extra 20,000 police officers. There were no costings or details of how this would be funded.
He ended by saying that for his parents, Britain was “a choice”, and thus a source of hope.
“I feel a responsibility as their son and as a child of this country to help secure for this generation and future generations all that it is that makes Britain a beacon for the world, through Brexit and beyond,” he said.
Sajid Javid has described Boris Johnson as “yesterday’s news” as he made his formal pitch for the Conservative leadership, with a speech touting himself as a new kind of leader who could better connect the party to modern Britain.
The home secretary, the last of 10 would-be successors to Theresa May to launch their campaigns, ahead of a first round of voting by MPs on Thursday, likened himself to Ruth Davidson and Benjamin Disraeli as an outsider who could move the party forwards.
During a speech in which he regularly took aim at Johnson, albeit often obliquely, Javid said the Tories would not win an election “by galvanising a narrow base, a base that, let’s be honest, is getting narrower all the time”.
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Saying the party and country had to tackle much more than just Brexit, Javid said: “At this moment, as we face the challenges that are unlike any that we have faced before, this calls for a new kind of leadership from a new kind of leader.
“A leader is not just for Christmas, or just for Brexit. We can’t risk going with someone who feels like the short-term, comfort-zone choice.” Voters, he added, did not want to see “the same old insiders with the same old school ties”.
Javid was more explicit in a subsequent question-and-answer session with journalists, in which he was asked to describe how he differed from Johnson, the former foreign secretary, who launched his campaign earlier in the day.
“I’d say I’m a change candidate. Boris Johnson is yesterday’s news,” Javid said. “He’s been around in politics for a while, he’s achieved a lot, and he’s still got a big role to play.
“But I think that if we are trying to connect with the next generation and move forward as a country, then I think it’s time for the next generation, with a bold new agenda.”
The speech, like Javid’s campaign video, drew heavily on his background as the son of parents who moved to the UK from Pakistan, describing facing racism and other barriers, including jibes that the four children he has with his white British wife would be “half-caste”. Javid said: “They are full British and they are playing their role in modern Britain.”
He was introduced by Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, who endorsed him. “We have to speak the language of modern Britain, and if we want people’s votes, we have to show that we share their values, their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations,” she told the crowd.
“They have to be able to look at the leader of our country and see something of themselves.”
In response, Javid likened himself to Davidson, who has revived her party. “The Scottish Conservatives threw out central casting and they elected somebody totally different. Someone who made people look at our party again,” he said. “The change that she’s brought to Holyrood is the change I will bring to Westminster.”
Saying he could attract younger and more diverse voters to the Tories, Javid also compared himself to Disraeli, who he called another “outsider”, saying he wanted to adopt his idea of one-nation conservatism.
In contrast, in another apparent reference to Johnson, he said some other candidates wanted to “double down” on divisions. “We are at a crossroads and we must stop our country going down the wrong direction,” the home secretary said.
On policies, Javid promised a £100bn national infrastructure fund, based outside London; more funding for schools, colleges and the NHS; and an extra 20,000 police officers. There were no costings or details of how this would be funded.
Javid said he would be happy for the Conservatives to initiate an external inquiry into Islamophobia in the party, a declaration that was swiftly endorsed by the Muslim Council of Britain.
The home secretary said he did not believe there was a “particular issue” with Islamophobia in the Conservative party. But he said he would be happy for an investigation to take place, because “we have nothing to hide”.
Harun Khan, the MCB’s secretary general, said: “We welcome this important first step and hope that these words will be followed by action.” Khan said he hoped other Tory leadership candidates would agree with Javid’s position.
The MCB, an umbrella group of Muslim Organisations, has been pressing for an inquiry since Zac Goldsmith’s controversial London mayoral campaign, which sought to mobilise anti-Muslim sentiment against Labour’s Sadiq Khan.
Javid ended his pitch by saying that for his parents, Britain was “a choice”, and thus a source of hope.
“I feel a responsibility as their son and as a child of this country to help secure for this generation and future generations all that it is that makes Britain a beacon for the world, through Brexit and beyond,” he said.
