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British Prime Minister Theresa May has named Sajid Javid as Britain's new Home Secretary after Amber Rudd resigned amid an immigration scandal.
- Ms Rudd's resignation comes amid a scandal that Caribbean immigrants had been refused medical care
- Mr Javid supported remaining in the EU during the Brexit vote
- He openly expressed anger at the treatment of the immigrants, stating "that could be me"
Mr Javid, Britain's former communities secretary, is the first minority politician to hold one of Britain's four top government jobs.
His predecessor, Amber Rudd, was forced to resign after she admitted in a letter to Ms May that she had "inadvertently misled" a parliamentary committee last Wednesday by denying the government had targets for the deportation of illegal migrants.
"I feel it is necessary to do so because I inadvertently misled the Home Affairs Select Committee over targets for removal of illegal immigrants," Ms Rudd said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
"I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility for the fact that I was not."
Ms May accepted her resignation, in what is a blow to the Prime Minister in losing one of her closest allies.
The scandal began when the Guardian newspaper reported some people who came to the UK from the Caribbean after World War II had been refused medical care in Britain or threatened with deportation because they could not produce paperwork proving their right to live in the country.
Mr Javid, whose parents came from Pakistan, expressed anger at the treatment of those UK citizens, telling the Sunday Telegraph: "That could be me."
Mr Javid, who backed staying in the European Union, may change the balance adopted by Ms May's team in negotiating Britain's departure from the EU.
A lukewarm campaigner to stay in the EU, he said the referendum result in 2016 meant that "in some ways, we're all Brexiteers now".
"The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP as Secretary of State for the Home Department," Ms May's office said in a statement.
It was also a blow to those lawmakers in the governing Conservative Party who want to retain the closest possible ties with the EU after Brexit.
AP/Reuters
Topics: world-politics, immigration, united-kingdom
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