Chancellor of the Exchequer visits Rochdale to show support for Conservative candidate Atifa Shah

Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid showed his support for the local Conservative party candidate for Rochdale, Atifa Shah, by visiting his hometown on Tuesday 26 November.

Various members of the party turned out at the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre to show their support, alongside local Conservative councillors Pat Sullivan, Angela Smith and John Taylor, and former councillor, Robert Clegg.

Speaking to Rochdale Online, Mr Javid, who was born in Rochdale, said: “I always love coming back to Rochdale. I wanted to show my support for Atifa and get the great Conservative message across for all of us.”

Atifa, herself a former Rochdale UK Youth Member of Parliament, said: “I think it’s absolutely amazing to have the Chancellor here in Rochdale today. To visit a town like Rochdale shows commitment and pulling power from some of the most senior figures, and I want to use this to transform Rochdale.”

 

 

Mr Javid's father, Abdul, a bus driver, came to the UK from Pakistan in 1961, reportedly with just £1 in his pocket. He settled in Rochdale, where Mr Javid, born in 1969, and his four brothers were born.

Mr Javid, who has four children of his own, tells of how his father was a Labour supporter until the ‘winter of discontent’ of 1978-9, later becoming a supporter of Mrs Thatcher.

Similarly inspired by what he saw as a turnaround in the country's fortunes under the Conservatives, Mr Javid joined the party in 1988.

Mr Javid became an MP in 2010, and became the first Asian male Conservative cabinet minister in 2014. As the government’s chief financial minister, Mr Javid, former MP for Bromsgrove, has overall responsibility for the work of the Treasury.

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.

Mr Javid left Deutsche Bank as a senior Managing Director in the summer of 2009 to give something back through politics.

He has previously been the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government; Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills; and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.