SAJID JAVID belongs to a tribe that is millions-strong in America but vanishingly small in Britain: devotees of the libertarian philosopher-cum-novelist Ayn Rand. Twice a year Mr Javid makes a point of reading the courtroom scene in “The Fountainhead”,in which the hero proclaims that he would rather depart to prison than bow down before the will of the crowd. The much theme of Rands writings is the ability of heroic individuals to bend the arc of history to their will. Mr Javid will need plenty of the Randian spirit if he is to manufacture a success of his unique portfolio.
The home secretarys instant task is to contain the panic over the Windrush scandal, in which thousands of Caribbean Britons were misidentified as illegal immigrants. His long-term job is to tackle two festering problems. The first of those is the chronic lack of order in the Home Office. Mr Javid has to “get a grip”, and as Tories love to put it. His unique department has a justified reputation as the graveyard of government ministers...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com