Pakistani-origin son of bus driver is UK home secretary now

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday promoted the son of a Pakistani bus driver, Sajid Javid, to the position of UK home secretary.

Javid, 48, becomes the "first ethnic minority, first Pakistani-origin and the first Muslim heritage" home secretary.

Upon taking up the role, Javid promised to develop a "fair immigration policy" and help the 'Windrush generation' who have been unfairly threatened with deportation by the home office.

Javid, previously secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, replaced Amber Rudd who on Sunday became the fourth cabinet minister to resign in the past six months over claims that she misled Parliament over whether she was aware of deportation targets for illegal immigrants.

The Windrush scandal erupted during the Commonwealth Summit when concerns about migrants, who came to Britain as children between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries, being threatened with deportation and denied access to the National Health Service (NHS) because they have not done the "right paperwork".

On Sunday, in an interview with the UK's Sunday Telegraph, Javid said his family could have been caught up in the Windrush saga. "I thought that could be my mum... my dad... my uncle... it could be me," he said.

"I'm a second-generation migrant. My parents came to this country from Pakistan, just like the Windrush generation. They came to this country after the Second World War to help rebuild it… They came from Commonwealth countries… They were asked to come in to [do] work that some people would describe as unattractive - my dad worked in a cotton mill, he worked as a bus driver."

Javid was born in Rochdale, Lancashire as one of the five sons to Pakistani parents, who were born in pre-partition India and had fled to Pakistan and then emigrated to the UK in the 1960s.

The high-profile job, considered the most prestigious role in the British cabinet, puts Javid in charge of national security, tackling of crime, including the spike in knife crime in London, fighting terrorism and extremism, and dealing with illegal immigration. In particular, Javid will be in charge of determining the UK's post-Brexit immigration strategy.

Although high-profile, the role is also known as the "graveyard of politicians" with many ministerial careers coming to an abrupt end there.

May is hoping that Javid's promotion will draw a line under the Windrush saga before local elections are held in the UK on Thursday, when the Conservatives fear losing hundreds of seats.