Sajid Javid says He Wouldn’t Let His Parents into the UK today

Former UK Chancellor Sajid Javid has reflected on his journey from poverty, domestic violence and racism to the Cabinet Office and multimillionaire status in a candid interview with The Sunday Times.

The British Pakistani politician also defended his modern immigration views, saying today’s rules would have blocked his own parents from entering the UK.

Javid said that under current policy, he “wouldn’t allow either his unskilled father or his non-English speaking mother entry today”.

He argued that language remains the biggest barrier to integration.

“The biggest block to good community cohesion is English,” he said.

“We should have set a requirement that if you want to settle in the UK, you should be able to speak fluent English.”

“We should have done that ages ago,” he added.

Javid’s parents migrated from Pakistan in the early 1960s, arriving with almost nothing and facing immediate hardship in Britain.

His father arrived with just £1, working as a bus driver, mill worker and later a shop owner.

His mother was uneducated and unable to speak English at the time, and struggled to adapt to life in the UK.

These experiences are detailed in his memoir, The Colour of Home, which explores a childhood shaped by poverty, overcrowding and deep family tension.

The book also documents domestic violence inside the home.

Javid writes that his father beat him with a leather slipper, a wooden spoon and, on one occasion, a hammer.

That assault was so severe that it required a CT scan.

“Crouching in a ball and covering my face while my father beat me,” Javid recalls, describing the brutality of those moments.

He also describes enduring racist abuse from skinheads and school bullies, alongside the emotional strain of growing up in impoverished conditions.

Family tensions continued into adulthood.

His mother initially refused to meet his white Christian wife, Laura, for two years.

She had also attempted to arrange his marriage to a cousin.

Sajid Javid writes that she “didn’t want two black workmen her husband employed to come for dinner”.

He adds that she later learnt English and “came to deeply regret her racism towards the black workmen”.

Later in life, Javid said his father apologised for the violence.

Despite everything, he described his family’s story as one of resilience and determination.

He fulfilled a childhood ambition by buying his parents a home in Bristol.

Javid writes that one of his proudest moments was achieving “enough to give myself and my family a better life”.

Reflecting on today’s immigration debates, he suggested even critics might recognise his family’s progress.

He told the interviewer that a “Reform voter… might think this is exactly the kind of family that we want in the UK because they went on a journey and look where they’ve ended”.

Throughout his political career, Sajid Javid consistently advocated tougher immigration controls.

He supported the post-Brexit points-based system and argued that the UK “lets in too many immigrants”.

He has repeatedly stressed that English language proficiency is essential for community cohesion.

His comments arrive as immigration remains one of Britain’s most divisive political issues, particularly within South Asian communities, balancing opportunity, identity and belonging.