Sajid Javid

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

Sajid Javid is a former banker, now UK Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, first elected in the 2010 UK general election.

Javid was appointed home secretary in April 2018. He was previoiusly secretary of state for communities and local government, having been appointed by incoming prime minister Theresa May in her July 2016 cabinet reshuffle.

Javid also served as culture secretary for a year from April 2014 and then business secretary from May 2015 until July 2016, when he replaced Greg Clark as communities secretary.

In that role Javid took over the responsibility for the appeal by fracking company Cuadrilla against Lancashire county council's rejection of its applications for exploratory drilling. Despite widespread protest by local communities in the region, Javid upheld the appeal on 6 October 2016, paving the way for shale gas production to start at Preston New Road in 2017.

Political career

Javid was appointed economic secretary to HM Treasury in September 2012. He was promoted to financial secretary to the Treasury in the October 2013 government reshuffle, replacing Greg Clark who was appointed as minister of state for cities. He was promoted to the Cabinet as culture secretary in April 2014, following the resignation of Maria Miller.

Banking career

Javid previously worked in business and finance. According to his government biography:

Aged 25, he became a vice president at Chase Manhattan Bank. He later moved to Deutsche Bank in London to help build its business in emerging market countries. Sajid left Deutsche Bank as a senior managing director in summer 2009 'to give something back through politics'.

At Deutsche his boss was Conservative Party donor Rajeev Misra.

Dinner with lobbyists

The Black and White Ball 2015

On 9 February 2015, Javid attended the Conservative Party's 'Black and White Ball' election fundraiser at the Grosvenor Hotel in London. The event was attended by almost the entire Cabinet, Boris Johnson and George Osborne did not attend due to the G20 event, and by party donors including; hedge fund boss Stanley Fink (Lord Fink), who wants Britain to rival offshore tax havens with an equally generous tax regime; founder of Lycamobile, who paid no corporation tax between 2007 and 2014 despite generating millions in revenue, Subaskaran Allirajah; jewellery tycoon Ranbir Singh Suri and lap dancing club owner Peter Stringfellow.

One Tory donor told the Guardian he had been told if he bought a 'premium table at the event for £15,000 he would expect the company of a cabinet minister' and if 'he paid £5,000 for a standard table, he would expect a junior minister'.

To raise additional money at the event, the Party sold one-off prizes. These included, a meal at the Carlton Club with Javid, shoe shopping with Theresa May, dinner at home with Michael Gove and a session of jogging with Nicky Morgan.

FT Summer Party

In June 2015, Javid, Conservative Mayor of London candidate Sol Campbell, Labour MPs including Andy Burnham, Chuka Umunna, Tristram Hunt, Emma Reynolds and Chris Bryant and peer Lord Mandelson attended a bash at the Mondrian London hotel. Also in attendance were Charles Lewington (founder and MD of Hanover Communications), Tim Allan (MD of Portland) and John Lehal (founder and MD of Insight Consulting Group).

Special advisers

• Salma Shah - Media adviser: previously a broadcast journalist at the BBC, and worked at Freelance PR, managing communications for Business in the Community's Olympic legacy project, and in the Conservative Party's press office. Salary: £66,000. Appointed in October 2014.

Former spads

• Nick King - Policy adviser: former aide to Maria Miller, previously worked for lobbying firms Hanover Communications and Heathcroft Communications. Salary: £72,000.

• Carrie Symonds - Media adviser: former aide to Zac Goldsmith and John Whittingdale, previously worked for lobbying firm Lansons Communications. Salary: £66,000. Now girlfriend of Boris Johnson, who Javid stood against in the Tory Party leadership race after Theresa May announced she was resigning in 2019.

• Daniel Gilbert

BBC Trust

In 2014, after the resignation of Lord Patten as the chair of the BBC Trust, Javid nominated Rona Fairhead for the role, which was ultimately decided by Her Majesty the Queen.

Javid said:

'Her experience of working with huge multinational corporations will undoubtedly be a real asset at the BBC Trust.'

'I have no doubt she will provide the strong leadership the position demands and will prove to be a worthy champion of licence fee payers.

'I am sure that under Rona's leadership the BBC will continue to play a central role in informing, educating and entertaining the nation.'

Fairhead was hired in the role but in 2015 her suitability was questioned due to her work with HSBC and the tax avoidance scandal.

Contact

Address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA


Tel: 020 7219 7027


Fax: 020 7219 0930

Email: 
sajid.javid.mp@parliament.uk

Twitter: @sajidjavid

Website: sajidjavid.com

Constituency: Rear Office, 18 High Street, Bromsgrove, B61 8HQ
Tel: 01527 872135

HM Treasury, 1 Horseguards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ
Tel: 020 7270 5000