Asians Among New Faces
A number of prominent Asians have been confirmed in the Government’s cabinet re-shuffle.
Previous Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove, Sajid Javid has been chosen as the new Business Secretary.
Mr Javid, who has become to be known as the bus drivers son who went on to become the high-flying banker, succeeds Liberal Democrat veteran, Vince Cable, who lost his seat last week.
Mr Javid was elected to Parliament in 2010 and served as a junior Treasury minister. Before being elected MP, he worked in business and finance. 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 the summer of 2009 to give something back through politics.
Witham Member of Parliament, Priti Patel, has also been given a cabinet role, Minister of State for Employment. She had previously been Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. Elected during the May 2010 General Election, the Prime Minister had appointed Priti as the first ever UK Indian Diaspora Champion. She takes over from Esther McVey.
On her appointment, she said, “I am delighted to have been appointed to this important role and to build on the success Conservatives in Government have had creating record numbers of new jobs in the economy. Over the last five years unemployment has fallen, including in my constituency, as more people have come off of benefits and into work. The Conservative Party is committed to carry on getting more people into work and achieve full employment.”
“Employment and earning a salary gives families security and our long term economic plan will continue to reward work. I look forward to working with Iain and others to deliver our manifesto and help more people into employment.”
Charity, QED Foundation, congratulated the new wave of MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds taking seats in Parliament, but warned them not to be ‘complacent’.
“We are delighted that the voices of people from different cultural backgrounds will increasingly be heard in Westminster,” says QED Foundation founder and chief executive Dr Mohammed Ali OBE. “However, their success should not make us complacent.
“The 2011 census shows that 19.5% of the population are not from a white British background. There is still a long way to go before our MPs are truly representative of the UK population.”
