Sajid Javid Sajid Javid

Full text: Sajid Javid’s Conservative conference speech

It’s a huge privilege to be standing here as Home Secretary. Now I know the question on your mind. So let’s just deal with it upfront. Yes, I did watch Bodyguard. No, it wasn’t very realistic. For a start, my codename is not Lavender, and she didn’t even do the power stance!

But let me tell you about another story. A story which started in the 1960s. Abdul-Ghani Javid left Pakistan and landed in Heathrow. He spent what little he had on a coach ticket, had his first night here in Birmingham, then continued up north to Lancashire to find work in a cotton mill.

After standing outside the mill for weeks, he got that first job, and started a family. Eventually, there were seven of us living in a two-bedroom flat, on what the papers called ‘Britain’s most dangerous street’.

That’s my story. And if you’d have told me back then what I’d be doing now, I’d have told you that it was less believable than any TV drama. That makes me proud not just for myself and my family – but for my country. So, what does the Conservative party offer a working class son-of-an-immigrant kid from Rochdale? You made him Home Secretary.

This new challenge is one that I am giving absolutely everything to. So I’m especially grateful to have one of the best ministerial teams. We’ve got Caroline Nokes, Ben Wallace, Nick Hurd, Victoria Atkins, and Susan Williams. Backed up by our parliamentary team Simon Hoare, Rachel Maclean, Paul Masterton, Paul Maynard, and Zahida Manzoor. So thank you to my whole team at the Home Office.

There is something profound about that word ‘home’. Most of my counterparts around the world run ‘Ministries of the Interior’. Interior ministry – it has a cold, brittle feel to it. Home – is where you feel safe, comfortable and in control.

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