Sajid Javid turns on the Old Etonians

So far in the Tory leadership contests, the candidates have spent a lot of time bashing the frontrunner Boris Johnson. However, with Johnson a sure thing for the final two, the real contest is currently between the other five leadership contenders, hoping to win second place to get on the members’ ballot. Hearing that battle cry, Sajid Javid used today’s lobby hustings to go on the offensive against his rival Rory Stewart.

With Stewart building momentum over the past couple of days, Javid took the opportunity to warn MPs against selecting two Old Etonians to go to the members, while helpfully drawing attention to his own more humble beginnings. Unlike Stewart, who went straight from Eton to Oxford, Javid attended his local comprehensive in Bristol, got a degree from Exeter University, and then went on to join Chase Manhattan Bank after graduation.

At the hustings, Javid insisted that the public would not want to see a competition between two people who both went to the country’s most elite school, saying:

‘The candidates need to be credible.