Pakistani descent ex-banker appointed as UK’s culture minister

LONDON-

British Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Pakistani descent former banker Sajid Javid as the country’s new culture minister, replacing Maria Miller who resigned earlier on Wednesday over an expenses scandal.

Javid has served since last year as financial secretary to the Treasury.

At the new post, Javid will be responsible for policy on broadcasting, sport, media, tourism, telecoms and the arts.

Javid, the son of a Bristol bus driver, worked for Chase Manhattan Bank and Deutsche Bank before starting his career in politics. He was elected as a member of parliament in 2010.

His father, Abdul, a bus driver, came to the UK from Pakistan in 1961, reportedly with just £1 in his pocket, according to the BBC website.

The website added that the self made millionaire , who is considered a rising star in the Conservative Party, is a devotee of Margaret Thatcher and has been tipped as a potential future leader.

Cameron said on Twitter that lawmaker Nicky Morgan will step up to the financial secretary post at the Treasury, key to the government’s relationship with the financial services industry, from her current role as economic secretary.

Miller said she took “full responsibility” for her decision to stand down as culture secretary, saying she did not want to become a “distraction” from the government’s achievements.

She had faced a week of pressure from the main opposition Labour Party, and growing criticism from her Conservative Party colleagues, over payments she had claimed were linked to a loan on a home in Wimbledon, south London.

Prime Minister David Cameron had come under fire for giving Miller his backing over the issue, and in accepting her resignation said he was “sad that you are leaving the government in these circumstances”.

Miller oversaw the ongoing negotiations on creating a new system of regulation for Britain’s famously aggressive newspapers that resulted from a public inquiry into press standards.

She also steered through the legislation that ushered in gay marriage.

Asked if she believed she had been the victim of a media witch-hunt due to her role in implementing the recommendations of the press standards inquiry, Miller said in a television interview: “I fully accept the findings of the parliamentary report. This is about that.”

An independent inquiry found she should pay back £75,400 for expenses she overclaimed on her mortgage, but that was cut to £5,800 by a committee of lawmakers.