A job in politics must be one of the most precarious. A budding politician must not only win the confidence of voters to land a seat in Parliament but then has to hone the art of survival.
To prosper in politics, one has to get used to surviving and at the same time hatching plots, betraying and be betrayed in different stages of one’s career. One also has to get used to broken friendships with colleagues whose instinct to survive and prosper in politics makes them lose the bond of friendship.
Decent politicians struggle to decide when it is time to go. All the rest just do not lose any sleep about this dilemma. They use strong seat belts to make sure that no political turmoil will unseat them. It was the Conservative politician Enoch Powell who once said, “All political careers end in failure.” Well, perhaps not all, but most politicians end up being humiliated either by the electorate or by their bosses.
One such case is that of outgoing UK Chancellor Sajid Javid.
Javid’s career outside politics is a story of success. The son of a Pakistani bus driver, he was advised at school to become a television repairman. He grew up in Bristol in a street that was once described in newspapers as “one of the most dangerous streets in Britain”.
At school, he was bullied because of his ethnic origins. But Javid had burning ambitions to succeed, despite often being told he did not have what it takes to satisfy his career and private life ambitions.
As a conservative MP, he nursed great admiration for Margaret Thatcher. Only last year he was considered as one of the favourites to replace Theresa May. He would have been the first British prime minister of colour. But that was not to be.
Trust is a very fragile commodity
In the recent cabinet reshuffle, Boris Johnson offered to keep Javid as Chancellor as long as he accepted a number of conditions that would de facto relegate him to being just a titular head of the Treasury. One of these conditions was that Javid had to sack all his advisors to let Johnson run the finance function from next door at No 10 Downing Street.
As one of Javid’s friends told the media, “No self-respecting person could allow that. Javid said ‘no’.” Javid crossed the Rubicon. Despite his understandable bitterness at being betrayed by his boss, he gave some precious advice to Johnson. He also defended those who worked with him in the Treasury in the short period he was Chancellor.
In a very civil but penetrating style, in his letter of resignation Javid told Johnson: “While I am grateful for your continued trust and offer to continue in this role of chancellor, I regret that I could not accept the conditions attached to the reappointment. It is crucial for the effectiveness of government that you have people around you who can give you clear and candid advice, as I have always sought to do. I also believe that it is important as leaders to have trusted teams that reflect the character and integrity that you would wish to be associated with.”
Trust is a very fragile commodity. When the relationship of trust between two persons breaks down, one or both should realise that it is time to go. Javid did the right thing to resign. He has now entered the wilderness of political life but will not suffer financially because he has had a very successful professional career with Chase Manhattan and Deutsche Bank.
Johnson preferred to trust his crony Dominic Cummings who wants to run the entire government from a control centre in Number 10. Javid’s political career may end in failure, but his moral integrity is what many people will remember him for.
His parting shot is that of a decent politician whose ambition was not to survive at all costs. In a very personal tone, he told Johnson: “My biggest hope is that this government will bring the country together and help to level the playing field so that stories like mine are not exceptional or lucky. While it is, of course, disappointing that I will no longer be in a position to see this vision through as one of your Cabinet Ministers, I am very optimistic about my country’s future.”
Politics, not just in the UK, will win the trust of decent people if there were more politicians like Javid.