Did Thatcher predict Sajid Javid would be PM? Home Secretary REVEALS what she said to him
MARGARET THATCHER may have predicted Sajid Javid’s rise to Number 10 when the two met in a chance encounter “at a reception”, the Home Secretary revealed last night.
Peston: Javid reveals Thatcher told him he'd 'protect our island'
Mr Javid was appearing on ITV’s Peston when the bombshell revelation was brought to light, amid confusion over what was - or wasn’t - said at a chance encounter between the Tory politicians.
Robert Peston asked Mr Javid: “Did Margaret Thatcher really say to you: ‘Sajid, you will protect our great island’?
“Was that the moment when you were destined to be our next Prime Minister?”
Mr Javid replied: “She did really say it.
READ MORE: Chuka Umunna openly defies fellow party members on ITV Peston
“It was a moment when I just happened to meet her at a reception.”
The Home Secretary went on to insist he did not feel “anointed” and that he was very happy in his current post.
He said: “I am very happy being Home Secretary - we have got a great Prime Minister.”
Earlier in the programme, Mr Peston grilled Mr Javid on his party’s Budget, saying: “You have spent pretty much every last penny in the kitty.
“As somebody who worked in the city for donkey's years, you must presumably think that was bonkers.”
But Mr Javid attempted to defend his party’s fiscal choices, arguing Chancellor Philip Hammond’s financial package would mean an “upgrade in the public finances”.
He reminded viewers the Tory Party had inherited an economy that was “on its knees” from the previous Labour Government.
The Labour Government at the time was borrowing “one in every four pounds it was spending,” the Home Secretary explained.
He said: “It was completely unsustainable.”
In response to the Budget announcement this week, Labour has been at odds about how to respond robustly.
The tensions within the Opposition were exposed even further on ITV’s Peston last night as Chuka Umunna refused to endorse the leadership’s plan to make its members abstain from upcoming Budget votes.
Several prominent Labour MPs have called on the party to oppose proposed changes they say they disproportionately benefit the better-off.
Peston: Extraordinary budget is ‘insurance’ for election threat
But Mr Umunna did not publicly back the plans, despite Labour’s John McDonnell suggesting the party would vote down the tax cuts.
It is understood Labour will put down amendments to the Budget resolutions demanding a hike in income tax to 45 percent on earnings above £80,000, and 50 percent for those above £125,000.
The expected move follows a heated row in Labour ranks after Mr McDonnell said the party would not oppose Tory tax cuts for the middle class.