Enoch Powell.
How that sorry gentleman must be turning in his grave. To think that some fifty years after his seminal Rivers of Blood speech his own party has shown such audacity. In appointing this son of an immigrant to one of the Great Offices of State. Has history taught them nothing.
It would appear not. Though, to be fair, the country has so dragged its feet to come this far that one might be forgiven for thinking British Rail were the driving force behind getting here. To the point where the country now boasts its first-ever BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic; that is non-white) Home secretary. Indeed, Sajid Javid fills shoes that haven’t been worn since Benjamin Disraeli — a Jew — secured the premiership in 1868. Yes, that’s right. Welcome to multicultural Britain.
Given the furore surrounding the government’s “hostile environment” carefully curated for immigrants, Prime Minister Theresa May’s selection of a British Pakistani as the man to mop up the subsequent mess may well represent a masterstroke of pure and calculated genius. For it adds a modern twist to the old maxim that goes a little like this: the Tories can’t be racist — look, one of their minister’s is a darkie. Sadly, this was an insinuation all too easily picked up by bigots across the Left-Right divide. Those keyboard warriors who took to social media to racially slur a sitting minister. Linked to this may well be the fear that Javid will humanise the Windrush scandal. The horror. This, of course, refers to those arriving in Britain from Caribbean countries between 1948-1971 and who have been threatened with deportation. Indeed, Javid has been quoted in the mainstream media as saying how it had struck him that it could have been his mum or even he himself who suddenly faced being unceremoniously booteed out of the country. Though he has signalled that it will be managed immigration as usual. Something to which Baroness Warsi also subscribed.
Be that as it may, now that Javid enjoys the honour of holding one of the most important portfolios in the land (the others being Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign secretary), it would be naïve to expect him to focus exclusively on the interests of the BAME community; or indeed of Muslims at large. For while his new post does include dealing with issues of immigration and citizenship, it also extends to national security and policing.
This son of a Muslim Pakistani bus driver has said that Israel would be his adopted homeland were he ever to relocate to the Middle East. Though why this shocks more than, say, Tony Blair fully betraying his socialist leanings by introducing university fees and waging the Iraq war is anybody’s guess
In fact, Javid has long refused to be pigeon-holed by either ethnicity or religion. And in move that Mr Powell would surely favour, this son of a Muslim Pakistani bus driver has demonstrated that he isn’t completely averse to notions of re-emigration. Israel would be his adopted homeland were he ever to relocate to the Middle East; a nation in which he and his family would feel “the warm embrace of freedom and liberty”. Then there are the hushed tones whispering of Javid’s purported closeness to some of America’s favourite neo-cons. Though why this shocks more than, say, Tony Blair fully betraying whatever socialist leanings he ever had by making single mother welfare benefits dependent on naming fathers; introducing university fees; and waging the 21st century’s first war of aggression in Iraq is anybody’s guess.
Except that one doesn’t have to presume. Not really. To be a British Muslim politician at the top of his or her game means to be placed in certain boxes; to be permitted to view policy only through the prism of a one-size-fits-all faith. All the while never forgetting to highlight one’s overriding Britishness. This was likely what prompted that other son of a Pakistani bus driver, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, to entirely dismiss any sentimental attachment to this country. For during his trip here at the end of last year, a reporter with the BBC — that bastion of the establishment — asked whether visiting Pakistan felt like coming home. Khan’s answer was as unequivocal as it was brash: home is South London, mate.
Thus the key is not to transgress the prescribed limits. As the daughter of another Pakistani bus driver knows only too well. Baroness Warsi resigned from the Cameron government over what she termed its “morally reprehensible” position on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The London mayor has slightly more room to manoeuvre on this front given that his mandate is restricted to the metropole. Though this didn’t render him immune to an insidious attack by the Conservatives in the mayoral race; with the latter using his Muslim identity to falsely link him to Islamist extremists. A theme that resurfaced on social media prior to his departure to Pakistan and may well explain his shutdown of the Beeb.
Yet keeping this in mind, Sajid Javid, as Home secretary, is in the best possible position to get on with the business of national politics, Tory-style. After all, he has, by his own admission, great respect for Margaret Thatcher; the grocer’s daughter who during her entire 11-year tenure appointed just one woman to cabinet. The tricky part, however, is understanding, that there is greater pressure on British Muslim gentlemen of the realm to safeguard interests of their own communities than a white female Oxbridge graduate. Or indeed a Prime Minister who lauded the era of a classless society only to see vocational training centres shut down on his watch.
But for now, Javid appears to be a true-blue Tory through and through. And there’s nothing wrong with that. For isn’t he living the multiculturalist’s dream?
The writer is the Deputy Managing Editor, Daily Times. She can be reached at [email protected] and tweets @humeiwei
Published in Daily Times, May 6th 2018.