title: Dictatorship

text: Military dictatorships are regimes in which military officers hold power, determine who will lead the country, and exercise influence over policy. They are most common in developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They are often unstable, and the average duration of a military dictatorship is only five years, but they are often followed by additional military coups and military dictatorships. While common in the 20th century, the prominence of military dictatorships declined in the 1970s and 1980s.


title: Dictatorship

text: Military dictatorships are typically formed by a military coup in which senior officers use the military to overthrow the government. In democracies, the threat of a military coup is associated with the period immediately after a democracy's creation but prior to large-scale military reforms. In oligarchies, the threat of a military coup comes from the strength of the military weighed against the concessions made to the military. Other factors associated with military coups include extensive natural resources, limited use of the military internationally, and use of the military as an oppressive force domestically. Military coups do not necessarily result in military dictatorships, as power may then be passed to an individual or the military may allow democratic elections to take place.


title: Dictatorship

text: Military dictatorships often have traits in common due to the shared background of military dictators. These dictators may view themselves as impartial in their oversight of a country due to their nonpartisan status, and they may view themselves as "guardians of the state". The predominance of violent force in military training manifests in an acceptance of violence as a political tool and the ability to organize violence on a large scale. Military dictators may also be less trusting or diplomatic and underestimate the use of bargaining and compromise in politics.


title: Dictatorship

text: One-party dictatorships are governments in which a single political party dominates politics. One-party dictatorships are one-party states in which only the party in power is legalized and all opposition parties are banned. Dominant-party dictatorships or electoral authoritarian dictatorships are one-party states in which opposition parties are nominally legal but cannot meaningfully influence government. One-party dictatorships were more common during the Cold War, but dominant-party dictatorships replaced them after the fall of the Soviet Union. One-party dictatorships are distinct from political parties that were created to serve a dictator; the ruling party in a one-party dictatorship permeates every level of society. One-party dictatorships became prominent in Asia and Eastern Europe during the Cold War as Communist governments were installed in several countries.


title: Dictatorship

text: One-party dictatorships are more stable than other forms of authoritarian rule, as they are less susceptible to insurgency and see higher economic growth. Ruling parties allow a dictatorship to more broadly influence the populace and facilitate political agreement between party elites. Between 1950 and 2016, one-party dictatorships made up 57% of authoritarian regimes in the world. Due to the structure of their leadership, one-party dictatorships are significantly less likely to face civil conflict, insurgency, or terrorism than other forms of dictatorship. The use of ruling parties also provides more legitimacy to its leadership and elites than other forms of dictatorship.


title: Dictatorship

text: A ruling party in a one-party dictatorship may rule under any ideology or it may have no guiding ideology. Marxist one-party states are sometimes distinguished from other one-party states, but they function similarly. When a one-party dictatorship develops gradually through legal means, in can result in conflict between the party organization and the state apparatus and civil service, as the party rules in parallel and increasingly appoints its own members to positions of power. Parties that take power through violence are often able to implement larger changes in a shorter period of time.


title: Dictatorship

text: Personalist dictatorships are regimes in which all power lies in the hands of a single individual. They differ from other forms of dictatorships in that the dictator has greater access to key political positions and the government's treasury, and they are more commonly subject to the discretion of the dictator. Personalist dictators may be members of the military or leaders of a political party, but neither the military nor the party exercises power independently from the dictator. In personalist dictatorships, the elite corps are usually made up of close friends or family members of the dictator, who typically handpicks these individuals to serve their posts. These dictatorships often emerge either from loosely organized seizures of power, giving the leader opportunity to consolidate power, or from democratically-elected leaders in countries with weak institutions, giving the leader opportunity to change the constitution. Personalist dictatorships are more common in Sub-Saharan Africa due to less established institutions in the region.


title: Dictatorship

text: Personalist dictators typically favor loyalty over competence in their governments and have a general distrust of intelligentsia. Elites in personalist dictatorships often do not have a professional political career and are unqualified for positions they are given. A personalist dictator will manage these appointees by segmenting the government so that they cannot collaborate. The result is that such regimes have no internal checks and balances, and are thus unrestrained when exerting repression on their people, making radical shifts in foreign policy, or starting wars with other countries. Due to the lack of accountability and the smaller group of elites, personalist dictatorships are more prone to corruption than other forms of dictatorship, and they are more repressive than other forms of dictatorship. Personalist dictatorships often collapse with the death of the dictator. They are more likely to end in violence and less likely to democratize than other forms of dictatorship.


title: Dictatorship

text: The shift in the power relation between the dictator and their inner circle has severe consequences for the behavior of such regimes as a whole. Personalist regimes diverge from other regimes when it comes to their longevity, methods of breakdown, levels of corruption, and proneness to conflicts. On average, they last twice as long as military dictatorships, but not as long as one-party dictatorships. Personalist dictatorships also experience growth differently, as they often lack the institutions or qualified leadership to sustain an economy.


title: Dictatorship

text: An absolute monarchy is a monarchy in which the monarch rules without legal limitations. This makes it distinct from constitutional monarchy and ceremonial monarchy. In an absolute monarchy, power is limited to the royal family, and legitimacy is established by historical factors. In the modern era, absolute monarchies are most common in the Middle East. Montesquieu made a distinction between despots that ruled unrestrained and monarchs that ruled within the laws of a kingdom. Political parties are relatively rare in monarchic dictatorships compared to military or civilian dictatorships. Monarchies may be dynastic, in which the royal family serves as a ruling institution similar to a political party in a one-party state, or they may be non-dynastic, in which the monarch rules independently of the royal family as a personalist dictator. Monarchies allow for strict rules of succession that produce a peaceful transfer of power on the monarch's death, but this can also result in succession disputes if multiple members of the royal family claim a right to succeed.


title: Dictatorship

text: During the Republican phase of Ancient Rome, a Roman dictator was the special magistrate who held well defined powers, normally for six months at a time, usually in combination with a consulship. These powers were granted during times of crisis in which a single leader was needed to command and restore stability. At least 85 such dictators were chosen over the course of the Roman Republic, the last of which was chosen to wage the Second Punic War. The dictatorship was revived 120 years later through a populist movement led by Sulla, and 33 years after that by Julius Caesar, under whose dictatorship the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire.


title: Dictatorship

text: Asia saw several military dictatorships during the post-classical era. During the early stages of the Goguryeo–Tang War in 642, Yeon Gaesomun organized a coup in the Goguryeo Kingdom and established himself as a military dictator. A coup took place in the Goryeo Kingdom in 1170, establishing the Goryeo military regime for the next century. Shogun was the title of the military dictators of Japan beginning with the Kamakura shogunate in 1185 and continuing through other shogunates for over six hundred years. While Shoguns nominally operated under the control of the Emperor of Japan, they served as "de facto" rulers of Japan and the Japanese military. In 1545 during the Lê dynasty, Vietnam was divided by the Trịnh lords who ruled the north and the Nguyễn lords who ruled the south establishing themselves as military dictators. The Trịnh lords held political and military power, reducing the Lê Emperors to puppet rulers. In contrast, the Nguyễn lords battled them in a lengthy civil war until the Tây Sơn Rebellion and their rule and the establishment of the Nguyễn Dynasty.


title: Dictatorship

text: The Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell, formed in 1649 after the Second English Civil War, has been described as a military dictatorship by its contemporary opponents and by some modern academics. Maximilien Robespierre has been similarly described as a military dictator while he controlled the National Convention in France and carried out the Reign of Terror in 1793 and 1794.


title: Dictatorship

text: Dictatorship developed as a major form of government in the 19th century, though in Europe it was often thought of in terms of Bonapartism and Caesarism. The concept of dictatorship was not universally seen pejoratively at the time, with both a tyrannical concept and a quasi-constitutional concept of dictatorship understood to exist. The Spanish American wars of independence took place in the early-19th century, creating many new Latin American governments. Many of these governments fell under the control of "caudillos", or personalist strongmen dictators. Most caudillos came from a military background, and their rule was typically associated with pageantry and glamor. Caudillos were often nominally constrained by a constitution, but the caudillo had the power to draft a new constitution as he wished. Many are noted for their cruelty, while others are honored as national heroes.


title: Dictatorship

text: Many Latin American countries experienced dictatorships by caudillos shortly after their formation in the early-19th century. Juan Manuel de Rosas was a major figure in the formation of Argentina, ruling as dictator from 1829 to 1852. In Guatemala, Rafael Carrera ruled as dictator from 1839 to 1865. In Venezuela, José Antonio Páez ruled in the decades following the country's founding. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia ruled Paraguay from its founding until 1840. President Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico established himself as a military dictator, and he gave himself the title of His Serene Highness in 1853. He was overthrown and exiled in 1855. President Porfirio Díaz of Mexico took power in 1876 and served as the military dictator until the Mexican Revolution in a period known as the Porfiriato.


title: Dictatorship

text: Dictatorship expanded in early-20th century Europe through a combination of far-left and far-right takeovers. The aftermath of World War I resulted in a major shift in European government, establishing new governments, facilitating internal change in other governments, and redrawing the boundaries between countries. These changes provided opportunities for extremist far-left and far-right political movements to take power.


title: Dictatorship

text: Vladimir Lenin established Soviet Russia in 1917 as a dictatorship of the proletariat. The Bolshevik government during the Russian Civil War had democratic elements, but following poor electoral performance, Lenin dissolved the Constituent Assembly. The Soviet Union was formed as a dictatorship in 1922 under the control of Lenin and the other Bolsheviks, whose power was enforced through secret police organizations such as the Cheka. Following Lenin's death in 1924, the party chose Joseph Stalin to be its next leader, and Stalin gained total control by 1929. In the following decades, Stalin carried out a totalitarian rule in which all threats to his power were eliminated through purges, eliminating democracy even within the one-party system. A Soviet government was briefly established in Hungary in 1919, but it fell the same year.


title: Dictatorship

text: Benito Mussolini was the first fascist dictator. He carried out the March on Rome in 1922, forcing King Victor Emmanuel III to appoint him as Prime Minister of Italy. In 1925, he began implementing his system of fascism, based on totalitarianism, fealty to the state, expansionism, corporatism, and anti-communism, though its application varied and was often inconsistent. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of the Weimar Republic in 1933, his rise to power coinciding with weakening democracy in the country. Over the following six months, Hitler and the Nazi Party obtained absolute power through a combination of electoral victory, violence, and emergency powers, assuming the office of president in addition to chancellor and taking the title of Führer. Austria briefly underwent a period of dictatorship under Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg before being annexed by Germany.


title: Dictatorship

text: Miguel Primo de Rivera was appointed Prime Minister of Spain in 1923 following a military coup, and he ruled as a dictator. By 1930, Primo de Rivera had alienated every major faction of Spanish politics and was convinced to step down. His government was replaced by the Second Spanish Republic. In 1926, Manuel Gomes da Costa led a military coup and established the "Ditadura Nacional" in Portugal. His successor, Óscar Carmona, chose to give control of finances to economics professor António de Oliveira Salazar. Salazar became Prime Minister of Portugal in 1932 and established the "Estado Novo". Francisco Franco took power in Spain after leading the Nationalist faction to victory in the Spanish Civil War and became a dictator in 1939.


title: Dictatorship

text: The authoritarian regimes led by Antanas Smetona in Lithuania in 1926–1940 and by Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia in 1934–1940, were considered to be milder than those in other European countries, with private enterprise and the press being relatively free, but have later been classified as dictatorships in some academic sources. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were effectively ruled by the totalitarian dictator Joseph Stalin after the June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries during World War II.


title: Dictatorship

text: Several right-wing dictatorships also emerged in the Balkans during the interwar period. Bulgaria underwent a period of several dictatorships following a military coup in 1923. Ahmed Zogu overthrew the government in Albania in 1924, and he proclaimed himself King Zog I in 1928. He was dictator until Albania was occupied in World War II. King George II of Greece appointed Ioannis Metaxas as Prime Minister of Greece in 1936, and Metaxas ruled as a dictator until his death in 1941. In 1940, King Michael I of Romania granted Ion Antonescu dictatorial powers, and Antonescu declared himself the Conducător of Romania.


title: Dictatorship

text: During World War II, Germany and Italy occupied several European countries and established fascist client states. These include Albania, Belgium, the Czech lands, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, the Slovak Republic, Yugoslavia and The Soviet Union. Poland was occupied by both Germany and the Soviet Union. Allied victory in Europe and the fall of Nazi Germany resulted in the liberation of Nazi-occupied territories and the dissolving of fascist governments.


title: Dictatorship

text: Augusto B. Leguía ruled as a dictator in Peru from 1919 to 1930. Juan Vicente Gómez ruled Venezuela as a dictator from 1908 until his death in 1935. Rafael Trujillo took power as a "nearly totalitarian" dictator of the Dominican Republic in the 1930s and ruled for 30 years. The 1930 Argentine coup d'état was the first in a series of coups and military dictatorships that would affect the country for decades. Jorge Ubico took power in Guatemala in 1931 and ruled until he was deposed by a pro-democracy uprising in 1944. In 1931, a coup was organized against the government of Arturo Araujo, causing the period of military dictatorship in El Salvador, starting with the Civic Directory. The government committed several crimes against humanity, such as those of La Matanza. The dictatorship ended with the 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état and the start of the Salvadoran Civil War. President Tiburcio Carías Andino carried out a self-coup in Honduras after the election of 1932 and served as a dictator until 1949. A self-coup in Uruguay established Gabriel Terra as dictator in 1933. Getúlio Vargas led a coup in 1937 that established him as a dictator in Brazil under an "Estado Novo" system. In Paraguay, Higinio Morínigo established himself as a military dictator in 1940 and ruled until 1948.


title: Dictatorship

text: Many dictatorships formed in Africa, with most forming after countries gained independence during decolonisation. Mobutu Sese Seko ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a dictator for decades, renaming it Zaire. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has ruled Equatorial Guinea as a dictator since he led a military coup in 1979. In 1973, King Sobhuza II of Swaziland suspended the constitution and ruled as an absolute monarch. Samuel Doe established a military dictatorship in Liberia in the 1980s. Libya was ruled by Muammar Gaddafi for several decades following a military coup. Moussa Traoré ruled as a dictator in Mali. Habib Bourguiba ruled as a dictator in Tunisia until he was deposed by a coup led by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 1987, who in turn ruled as a dictator until the Tunisian Revolution in 2011. Robert Mugabe ruled as a dictator in Zimbabwe.


title: Dictatorship

text: Early socialist dictatorships in Africa mainly developed as personalist dictatorships, in which a single socialist would take power instead of a ruling party. Later in the Cold War, the Soviet Union increased its influence in Africa as Marxist–Leninist dictatorships developed in several African countries. One-party Marxist states in Africa included Angola under the MPLA, Benin under Mathieu Kérékou, Cape Verde under the PAICV, the Congo under the Congolese Party of Labour, Ethiopia under the Workers' Party of Ethiopia, Madagascar under AREMA, Mozambique under FRELIMO, and Somalia under Siad Barre.


title: Dictatorship

text: Many African countries underwent several military coups that installed a series of military dictatorships throughout the Cold War. These include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Uganda, each undergoing at least three successful military coups between 1959 and 2001.


title: Dictatorship

text: Some leaders of African countries abolished opposition parties, establishing one-party dictatorships. These include the National Liberation Front in Algeria, the Chadian Progressive Party under François Tombalbaye in Chad, the Gabonese Democratic Party under Omar Bongo in Gabon, the Democratic Party under Ahmed Sékou Touré in Guinea, the Malawi Congress Party under Hastings Banda in Malawi, the MNSD under Ali Saibou in Niger, MRND under Juvénal Habyarimana in Rwanda, the Socialist Party under Léopold Sédar Senghor in Senegal, Julius Nyerere in Tanzania, the RPT under Gnassingbé Eyadéma in Togo, and the United National Independence Party under Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia. The KANU in Kenya ruled under a "de facto" one-party state.


title: Dictatorship

text: Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China as a one-party Communist state at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, removing the Nationalist Chinese government from power. Mao implemented his governing ideology of Maoism. The country maintained a strained relationship with the Soviet Union, and relations deteriorated as the Soviet Union underwent de-Stalinization in the late-1950s. In the 1960s, amid fear that he would lose control of the Communist Party, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution, which involved the destruction of any elements of capitalism in China while also establishing relations with Japan and the United States. Deng Xiaoping took power as the "de facto" leader of China after Mao's death and implemented reforms to restore stability following the Cultural Revolution and reestablish free market economics. Chiang Kai-shek continued to rule as dictator of the National government's rump state in Taiwan until his death in 1975.


title: Dictatorship

text: North Korea and South Korea both emerged from World War II as dictatorships. North Korea was established under Soviet influence, and Kim Il-sung led the country as a one-party Marxist state. South Korea was under the dictatorship of Syngman Rhee in the 1950s, but his rule ended following the April Revolution. The country became a military dictatorship under Chun Doo-hwan in the 1980s, but the June Democratic Struggle in 1987 led to democratization. In Southern Asia, Ayub Khan established himself as a military dictator of Pakistan during the 1958 coup, and Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq established himself as a military dictator in the 1977 coup. Hussain Muhammad Ershad took power in Bangladesh in a 1982 military coup and ruled until 1991. Nepal was an absolute monarchy until the 1990 Nepalese revolution created a constitutional monarchy.


title: Dictatorship

text: Southeast Asia was influenced by China during the Cold War, and three Communist dictatorships were formed in the region: North Vietnam, Laos, and Kampuchea. North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War, and the two merged into a single Communist country. Anti-Communist dictators also ruled in the region. Suharto became dictator in Indonesia, taking power in 1967 until a violent unrest in 1998 forced him to resign. Ngo Dinh Diem ruled South Vietnam as a dictator until the 1963 military coup. Ferdinand Marcos ruled Philippines as a dictator until the People Power Revolution in 1986. A socialist military dictatorship was also created separately from the Communist governments in Burma until it was overthrown in 1988 and replaced by a new military dictatorship.


title: Dictatorship

text: The Middle East was decolonized during the Cold War, and many nationalist movements gained strength post-independence. A 1953 coup overseen by the American and British governments restored Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the absolute monarch of Iran, who in turn was overthrown during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 that established Ruhollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader of Iran under an Islamist government. Several Middle Eastern countries were the subject of military coups in the 1950s and 1960s, including Iraq, Syria, North Yemen, and South Yemen. Islamic Republic of Iran is a totalitarian regime based on theocracy ruled with the absolute power of the supreme leader, Khamenei. Afghanistan became a one-party dictatorship after the 1973 coup, and it became a Marxist dictatorship after the Saur Revolution in 1978.


title: Dictatorship

text: During World War II, many countries of Central and Eastern Europe had been occupied by the Soviet Union. When the war ended, these countries were incorporated into the Soviet sphere of influence, and the Soviet Union exercised control over their governments. Soviet occupation of Bulgaria and Poland allowed for the immediate establishment of a new government. The Soviet occupation of East Germany resulted in the creation of a new one-party state controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The Czechoslovak government was replaced by the Ninth-of-May Constitution, which maintained a facade of democracy while the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia held authority. Following the liberation of Hungary, Communists gained influence in the country by infiltrating its government and carrying out a Communist takeover, implementing a new constitution to implement one party rule. The Soviet government pressured King Michael I of Romania to appoint Petru Groza as Prime Minister of Romania, and Groza's government enacted a new constitution to implement Communist rule.


title: Dictatorship

text: Josip Broz Tito declared a Communist government in Yugoslavia during World War II, which was initially aligned with the Soviet Union. The relations between the countries were strained by Soviet attempts to influence Yugoslavia, leading to the Tito–Stalin split in 1948. Albania was established as a Communist dictatorship under Enver Hoxha in 1944. It was initially aligned with Yugoslavia, but its alignment shifted throughout the Cold War between Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and China. The stability of the Soviet Union weakened in the 1980s. The Soviet economy became unsustainable, and Communist governments lost the support of intellectuals. In 1989, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and Communism was abandoned by the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Of the new and reformed governments created by the fall of Communism in Europe, only Belarus remained a dictatorship, under the control of Alexander Lukashenko. Vladimir Putin's unchallenged authoritarian rule over Russia since 1999 as either president or prime minister has also been described as a dictatorship by many political analysts.


title: Dictatorship

text: Military dictatorships remained prominent in Latin America during the Cold War, though the number of coups declined starting in the 1980s. Between 1967 and 1991, Haiti and Honduras both underwent three military coups, and Bolivia underwent eight. Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay also underwent at least one military coup during the same period.


title: Dictatorship

text: In the Caribbean, former President of Cuba Fulgencio Batista carried out a 1952 military coup in Cuba after he determined that he was not going to win the upcoming presidential election. Batista ruled until the Cuban Revolution overthrew his government and established a one-party Marxist state led by Fidel Castro. François Duvalier consolidated his power as a dictator in Haiti during his presidency in the 1970s, and upon his death in 1971, he passed his position to his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, who would rule until 1986.


title: Dictatorship

text: In Central America, Carlos Castillo Armas took power in Guatemala with a 1954 coup with American-trained troops and held power until his assassination in 1957, which in turn resulted in a series of dictatorships during the Guatemalan Civil War. Omar Torrijos took power in Panama with a 1968 military coup until his death in 1981. Several military dictators briefly held power in Panama until Manuel Noriega took power in 1983, but he was deposed by the United States invasion of Panama in 1989. The Somoza family ruled Nicaragua either directly or indirectly until they were overthrown during the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979.


title: Dictatorship

text: In South America, a 1948 military coup in Venezuela established the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez who ruled until 1958. Gustavo Rojas Pinilla took power in a 1953 coup and ruled until 1957. Alfredo Stroessner carried out a 1954 military coup in Paraguay that established the "El Stronato" military dictatorship until 1989. A 1964 coup established a military dictatorship in Brazil that lasted until 1985. A 1968 military coup established a military dictatorship in Peru until 1980, and in 1992, Alberto Fujimori carried out a self-coup in Peru. Hugo Banzer was the military dictator of Bolivia from 1971 to 1978, and he would later go on to be the country's democratically elected president two decades later. In 1972, Guillermo Rodríguez established a dictatorial government in Ecuador and called his government the "Nationalist Revolution". It entered OPEC in 1973 and also imposed agrarian reforms. In 1973, Augusto Pinochet carried out a coup and established a military dictatorship in Chile that lasted until 1990.


title: Dictatorship

text: Operation Condor was a secret intelligence agreement developed by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet with his secret police and intelligence organizations. It included the governments of military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Peru. Under this organization, these governments were able to collaborate with one another in the elimination of political enemies. Operation Condor received tacit and sometimes explicit support from the United States in exchange for support against Communist dictators, and the United States declassified information on Operation Condor after the Cold War.


title: Dictatorship

text: The nature of dictatorship changed in much of the world at the onset of the 21st century. Between the 1990s and the 2000s, most dictators moved away from being "larger-than-life figures" that controlled the populace through terror and isolated themselves from the global community. This was replaced by a trend of developing a positive public image to maintain support among the populace and moderating rhetoric to integrate with the global community.


title: Dictatorship

text: There are currently over 50 dictatorships around the world. Only a small number of one-party states exist in the 21st century being, China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam are Communist one-party states, and Eritrea is a nationalist one-party state. Opposition parties were legalized in Syria and Turkmenistan, but they are still "de facto" one-party states as of 2022. Other countries with dominant-party systems also exist. Iraq was a one-party state until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As of 2022, Brunei, Eswatini, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Vatican City are absolute monarchies, and the United Arab Emirates is a federation of monarchies. Bhutan was an absolute monarchy until the 2008 Bhutanese National Assembly election. Tonga was an absolute monarchy until the 2010 Tongan general election. Belarus under the rule of Alexander Lukashenko has been described as "the last European dictatorship", though the rule of Vladimir Putin in Russia has also been described as a dictatorship.


title: Dictatorship

text: One of the tasks in political science is to measure and classify regimes as either democracies or dictatorship (authoritarian) countries. Freedom House, the Polity data series, and the Democracy-Dictatorship Index are three of the most used data series by political scientists. Generally, two research approaches exist: the minimalist approach, which focuses on whether a country has continued elections that are competitive, and the substantive approach, which expands the concept of democracy to include human rights, freedom of the press, and the rule of law. The Democracy-Dictatorship Index is seen as an example of the minimalist approach, whereas the Polity data series is more substantive.


title: Dictatorship

text: The 2021 Democracy Index report showed that there were 74 democracies, 53 of which were flawed democracies, such as the United States, Brazil, India, France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Chile and Indonesia. The report ranked Canada, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany and Costa Rica as full democracies. Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Belarus, Venezuela, Syria, Nicaragua and Cuba were ranked as authoritarian countries by the report while Pakistan, Mexico, Bangladesh, Senegal and Nigeria were ranked as hybrid regimes.


title: Dictatorship

text: Most dictatorships exist in countries with high levels of poverty. Poverty has a destabilizing effect on government, causing democracy to fail and regimes to fall more often. The form of government does not correlate with the amount of economic growth, and dictatorships on average grow at the same rate as democracies, though dictatorships have been found to have larger fluctuations. Dictators are more likely to implement long-term investments into the country's economy if they feel secure in their power. Exceptions to the pattern of poverty in dictatorships include oil-rich Middle Eastern dictatorships and the East Asian Tigers during their periods of dictatorship.


title: Dictatorship

text: The type of economy in a dictatorship can affect how it functions. Economies based on natural resources allow dictators more power, as they can easily extract rents without strengthening or cooperating with other institutions. More complex economies require additional cooperation between the dictator and other groups. The economic focus of a dictatorship often depends on the strength of the opposition, as a weaker opposition allows a dictator to extract additional wealth from the economy through corruption.


title: Dictatorship

text: Several factors determine the stability of a dictatorship. They must maintain some degree of popular support to prevent resistance groups from growing. This may be ensured through incentives, such as distribution of financial resources or promises of security, or it may be through repression, in which failing to support the regime is punished. Stability can be weakened when opposition groups grow and unify or when elites are not loyal to the regime. One-party dictatorships are generally more stable and last longer than military or personalist dictatorships.


title: Dictatorship

text: A dictatorship may fall because of a military coup, foreign intervention, negotiation, or popular revolution. A military coup is often carried out when a regime is threatening the country's stability or during periods of societal unrest. Foreign intervention takes place when another country seeks to topple a regime by invading the country or supporting the opposition. A dictator may negotiate the end of a regime if it has lost legitimacy or if a violent removal seems likely. Revolution takes place when the opposition group grows large enough that elites in the regime cannot suppress it or choose not to. Negotiated removals are more likely to end in democracy, while removals by force are more likely to result in a new dictatorial regime. A dictator that has concentrated significant power is more likely to be exiled, imprisoned, or killed after ouster, and accordingly they are more likely to refuse negotiation and cling to power.


title: Dictatorship

text: Dictatorships are typically more aggressive than democracy when in conflict with other nations, as dictators do not have to fear electoral costs of war. Military dictatorships are more prone to conflict due to the inherent military strength associated with such a regime, and personalist dictatorships are more prone to conflict due to the weaker institutions to check the dictator's power. In the 21st century, dictatorships have moved toward greater integration with the global community and increasingly attempt to present themselves as democratic. Dictatorships are often recipients of foreign aid on the condition that they make advances toward democratization. A study found that dictatorships that engage in oil drilling are more likely to remain in power, with 70.63% of the dictators who engage in oil drilling still being in power after 5 years of dictatorship, while only 59.92% of the non-oil producing dictators survive the first 5 years.


title: Dictatorship

text: Most dictatorships hold elections to maintain legitimacy and stability, but these elections are typically uncompetitive and the opposition is not permitted to win. Elections allow a dictatorship to exercise some control over the opposition by setting the terms under which the opposition challenges the regime. Elections are also used to control elites within the dictatorship by requiring them to compete with one another and incentivizing them to build support with the populace, allowing the most popular and most competent elites to be promoted in the regime. Elections also support the legitimacy of a dictatorship by presenting the image of a democracy, establishing plausible deniability of its status as a dictatorship for both the populace and foreign governments. Should a dictatorship fail, elections also permit dictators and elites to accept defeat without fearing violent recourse. Dictatorships may influence the results of an election through electoral fraud, intimidation or bribing of candidates and voters, use of state resources such as media control, manipulation of electoral laws, restricting who may run as a candidate, or disenfranchising demographics that may oppose the dictatorship.


title: Dictatorship

text: Before 1990, most dictatorships held elections in which voters could only choose to support the dictatorship. Since the end of the Cold War, more dictatorships have established "semi-competitive" elections in which opposition parties are allowed to participate but they are not allowed to win. This may be done by preventing the opposition from campaigning, banning more popular opposition parties, preventing opposition members from forming a party, or requiring that candidates be a member of the ruling party. Dictatorships may hold semi-competitive elections to qualify for foreign aid or to incentivize the party to expand its information-gathering capacity, particularly at the local level. Semi-competitive elections also have the effect of incentivizing members of the ruling party to provide better treatment of citizens so they will be chosen as party nominees due to their popularity.


title: Dictatorship

text: In a dictatorship, violence is used to coerce all opposition to the dictator's rule, the violence is frequently used by institutions such as military or police forces. The use of violence by a dictator is frequently most severe during the first few years of a dictatorship, because the regime has not yet solidified its rule and more detailed information for targeted coercion is not yet available. As the dictatorship becomes more established, it moves away from violence by resorting to the use of other coercive measures, such as restricting people's access to information and tracking the political opposition. Institutions that coerce the opposition through the use of violence may serve different roles or they may be used to counterbalance one another in order to prevent one institution from becoming too powerful. Secret police are used to gather information about specific political opponents and carry out targeted acts of violence against them, and paramilitary forces defend the regime from coups, and formal militaries defend the dictatorship during foreign invasions and major civil conflicts.


title: Dictatorship

text: Terrorism is less common in dictatorships. Allowing the opposition to have representation in the regime, such as through a legislature, further reduces the likelihood of terrorist attacks in a dictatorship. Military and one-party dictatorships are more likely to experience terrorism than personalist dictatorships, as these regimes are under more pressure to undergo institutional change in response to terrorism.


title: The Post (film)

text: The Post is a 2017 American historical political thriller film about "The Washington Post" and the publication of the "Pentagon Papers". It was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, and written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer. It stars Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham, the publisher of the "Washington Post", and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee, the longtime executive editor of "The Washington Post", with Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Carrie Coon, Alison Brie, and Matthew Rhys in supporting roles.


title: The Post (film)

text: Set in 1971, "The Post" depicts the true story of attempts by journalists at "The Washington Post" to publish the infamous "Pentagon Papers", a set of classified documents regarding the 20-year involvement of the United States government in the Vietnam War and earlier in French Indochina back to the 1940s.


title: The Post (film)

text: Principal photography began in New York City in May 2017 and wrapped in July 2017. The film premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on December 14, 2017, and went into limited release in the United States on December 22, 2017. It entered wide release on January 12, 2018, and grossed $179 million worldwide.


title: The Post (film)

text: The film received positive reviews; critics praised the performances (particularly Streep, Hanks, and Odenkirk) and the film's references and allusions to the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. "The Post" was chosen by the National Board of Review as the best film of 2017 and was named as one of the top 10 films of the year by "Time" magazine and the American Film Institute. "The Post" was nominated for Best Picture and Best Actress (for Streep) at the 90th Academy Awards, and received six nominations at the 75th Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actress – Drama (for Streep), Best Actor – Drama (for Hanks), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.


title: The Post (film)

text: In 1966, during the Vietnam War, U.S. State Department military analyst Daniel Ellsberg documents military progress for Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara alongside American troops. On their return flight, McNamara tries to convince William B. Macomber that the war is hopeless. However, Ellsberg is disillusioned to hear McNamara continue to publicly argue that the war is both justifiable and winnable.


title: The Post (film)

text: When Ellsberg gets a job as a contractor for the RAND Corporation, a military policy think-tank with access to classified government information, he copies thousands of pages from a top secret report on the country's extensive interference in Vietnam, which began with the Truman administration. He leaks the report to reporter Neil Sheehan at "The New York Times."


title: The Post (film)

text: In 1971, Katharine Graham has been the owner and publisher of "The Washington Post" for eight years since the suicide of its former publisher (her husband Phil Graham) and the death of its former owner (her father Eugene Meyer). She hopes to financially stabilize the "Post" by floating it on the stock market. Although Graham lacks journalistic and business experience she strongly believes they can best improve the paper's financial health over the long-term by investing in higher-quality national news.


title: The Post (film)

text: Graham appointed the bullish Ben Bradlee as the "Post"'s executive editor as they both feel the paper's provincialism is preventing it from competing with "The New York Times". However, she struggles to convince the male-dominated board's key leaders, who dismiss Graham as a former housewife in over her head.


title: The Post (film)

text: The board pushes to remain a regional paper, as a lower-risk strategy works for other publishers. Simultaneously, Graham maintains her pre-"Post" life as a well-connected D.C. socialite. She and Bradlee frequently clash over her reluctance to publish stories critical of her friends.


title: The Post (film)

text: McNamara, one of Graham's long-time friends, tells her at a dinner party that an "unflattering" story about him will be published in "The New York Times"—another example of the "Times" scooping the "Post" in its own backyard. The story is the first of Sheehan's scoops from Ellsberg's documents: an exposé of the true origins of the U.S. government's interference in Southeast Asia.


title: The Post (film)

text: As the "Post"'s editors discuss how to pursue the story further, an anonymous woman leaves one hundred pages of the leaked documents on a reporter's desk in their newsroom. Bradlee is ecstatic at a chance to finally get ahead of the "Times" on a major story. However, a federal district court injunction halts the "Times" from publishing further articles on the subject, and Graham—concerned about its potential to both open the "Post" to huge financial and criminal liability, and socially embarrass her—instructs Bradlee that she won't allow the "Post" to ignore the injunction.


title: The Post (film)

text: "Post" assistant editor Ben Bagdikian tracks down Ellsberg, a former colleague at RAND, as the source. He explains how he copied the documents over years, a few pages each day, and gives Bagdikian over 4,000 pages to take back to D.C. "Post" reporters pore over the mounds of pages, searching for stories, as their attorneys advise against publishing it lest the Nixon administration file criminal charges.


title: The Post (film)

text: Graham confers with McNamara, Bradlee, Parsons, and trusted "Post" chairman Fritz Beebe as she agonizes over publishing the story. McNamara warns her that she will face social exile in D.C., and that Nixon's revenge on the "Post" will be merciless. Beebe and Parsons also warn they could lose investors.


title: The Post (film)

text: Bradlee argues that they have a responsibility to actively seek out risky stories for the public interest. And, if they are successful in court, the "Post" would emerge as a significant journalistic institution. He also tells her that his own circle of elite D.C. friends (including John F. Kennedy, as revealed in the documents) repeatedly lied to him as well over the years to garner sympathetic coverage; her own friendships with people like McNamara cannot be allowed to influence her decision.


title: The Post (film)

text: After hearing all sides, Graham gives the go-ahead. However, the situation intensifies immediately after they go to print when the lawyers realize that Bagdikian’s source, Ellsberg, is the same as Sheehan's, putting Graham and Bradlee in contempt of court under the terms of the original injunction. This opens them to further liability under the Espionage Act than if Bagdikian had a different source to Sheehan, with a serious risk that Graham has just destroyed both the newspaper and her family's legacy.


title: The Post (film)

text: The "Post" and "Times" jointly appear before the Supreme Court to plead their First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, in solidarity with the "Post" and "Times", other major and regional newspapers also publish about the secret war study. On June 30, 1971, the Supreme Court's justices, in the case of "New York Times Co. v. United States", ruled 6–3 in the two newspapers' favor, vindicating Graham's decision to print. Shortly after, President Richard Nixon bars the "Post" from the White House.


title: The Post (film)

text: The film ends with a sequence showing the discovery of the Watergate burglary by security guard Frank Wills, which the "Post" further exposes, ultimately leading to Nixon’s resignation.


title: The Post (film)

text: In October 2016, Amy Pascal won a bid for the rights to the screenplay "The Post", written by Liz Hannah. In February 2017, Steven Spielberg had halted pre-production on "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara" with The Weinstein Company after a casting setback, and consequently opened his schedule to other potential films to direct. The following month, it was announced that Spielberg was in negotiations to direct and produce the film, with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in talks for the roles of Katharine Graham and Ben Bradlee, respectively. "The Post" is the first time that Spielberg, Streep, and Hanks had all worked together on a film.


title: The Post (film)

text: Spielberg read the screenplay and decided to direct the film as soon as possible, saying that "when I read the first draft of the script, this wasn't something that could wait three years or two years — this was a story I felt we needed to tell today." Spielberg worked on "The Post" while post-production work continued on the visual-effects-heavy "Ready Player One", a situation familiar to him from concurrently producing, in the early 1990s, "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List". Josh Singer was hired to re-write the screenplay ten weeks before filming.


title: The Post (film)

text: As filming commenced, a number of "New York Times" figures who were associated with the "Pentagon Papers" case—among them James Greenfield, James Goodale, Allan M. Siegal, and Max Frankel—objected to the film's production due to the script's lack of emphasis on the "Times" role in breaking the story. Goodale, who was at the time the "Times"s in-house counsel, later called the film "a good movie but bad history."


title: The Post (film)

text: The film began principal photography in New York on May 30, 2017. On June 6, 2017, it was announced that the project, retitled "The Papers", would also star Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford, and Zach Woods. On August 25, 2017, the film's title reverted to "The Post". Spielberg finished the final cut of the film on November 6, 2017, with the final sound mix also completed along with the musical score a week later, on November 13.


title: The Post (film)

text: Writing for "The New York Times", Manohla Dargis indicated some high points in the costume design used in the film stating, "The costume designer Ann Roth subtly brightens Katharine, taking her from leaden gray to free-flowing gold."


title: The Post (film)

text: The score for the film was written by John Williams; it is his 28th collaboration with Spielberg. The music is a combination of traditional orchestral instrumentation and what Williams has called "very light, computerised electronic effects." Williams was originally attached to write the music for Spielberg's "Ready Player One", but, because both films had similar post-production schedules, Williams chose to work on "The Post", while Alan Silvestri composed for "Ready Player One". Spielberg has said that "The Post" was a rare instance in which he went to the recording sessions "having not heard a note" in advance.


title: The Post (film)

text: Recording began on October 30, 2017, in Los Angeles. The soundtrack was released digitally by Sony Classical Records on December 22, 2017, and in physical form on January 12, 2018.


title: The Post (film)

text: "The Post" premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on December 14, 2017. It began a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 22, 2017, and a wide release on January 12, 2018. The film is distributed internationally through Amblin Partners' distribution agreements with Universal Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, and Entertainment One. The film was released by Reliance in India. Tom Hanks said he would not be interested in appearing at a potential White House screening for President Donald Trump.


title: The Post (film)

text: The first official image from "The Post" was released on October 31, 2017. The trailer for "The Post" premiered exclusively on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert", on November 7, 2017, and the film's poster, designed by BLT Communications, was released the next day. The first TV spot, titled "Uncover the Truth", was released on November 21, 2017.


title: The Post (film)

text: "The Post" was released on Digital HD on April 3 and on Blu-ray/DVD on April 17, 2018, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in North America and in the United Kingdom and Australia via Entertainment One.


title: The Post (film)

text: "The Post" grossed $81.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $97.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $179.8 million, against a production budget of $50 million.


title: The Post (film)

text: During "The Post"s limited opening weekend, December 22 to 24, it grossed $526,011 (and a total of $762,057 over the four-day Christmas weekend) from nine theaters. The following weekend, the film grossed $561,080 for a per-theater average of $62,342, one of the highest of 2017. The film had its wide release alongside the openings of "The Commuter", "Paddington 2" and "Proud Mary", and was projected to gross around $20 million from 2,819 theaters over the weekend. It made $5.9 million on its first day and $18.6 million over the weekend (and a four-day MLK weekend total of $23.4 million), finishing second at the box office behind holdover "". 66% of its opening weekend audience was over the age of 35. It dropped 37% the following weekend to $12.2 million, finishing 4th behind "Jumanji" and newcomers "12 Strong" and "Den of Thieves". It dropped to 5th in its third week of wide release, grossing $8.9 million.


title: The Post (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 409 reviews, with an average rating of 7.90/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""The Post" period setting belies its bitingly timely themes, brought compellingly to life by director Steven Spielberg and an outstanding ensemble cast." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 63% of audience members gave the film a "definite recommend".


title: The Post (film)

text: Alonso Duralde of "TheWrap" praised the acting and Spielberg's direction, though he noted the script was too on-the-nose at times, saying, ""The Post" passes the trickiest tests of a historical drama: it makes us understand that decisions validated by the lens of history were difficult ones to make in the moment, and it generates suspense over how all the pieces fell into place to make those decisions come to fruition." David Ehrlich of "IndieWire" gave the film an A− and wrote: "Nobody needs to be reminded that history tends to go in circles, but "The Post" is so vital because it captures the ecstasy of trying to break the chain and bend things towards justice; defending the fundamental tenets of the Constitution hasn't been this much fun since "Hamilton"."


title: The Post (film)

text: Chris Nashawaty, writing for "Entertainment Weekly", gave the film a positive review, but also compared it with previous journalism films such as "All the President's Men" stating, "Spielberg makes these crucial days in American history easy to follow. But if you look at "The Post" next to something like "All the President's Men", you see the difference between having a story passively explained to you and actively helping to untangle it. That's a small quibble with an urgent and impeccably acted film. But it's also the difference between a very good movie and a great one."


title: The Post (film)

text: Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" awarded the film an NYT Critic's Pick with a strong acknowledgment of Spielberg as director saying, "Mostly, (the "Post" decision to publish) went down fast, a pace that Mr. Spielberg conveys with accelerated rhythms, flying feet, racing cameras and an enjoyably loose approach to the material. With his virtuosic, veteran crew, Mr. Spielberg paints the scene vividly and with daubs of beauty; most notably, he creates distinct visual realms for the story's two main overlapping, at times colliding, worlds. Katharine reigns over one; at first she's all but entombed in her darkly lighted, wood-paneled empire. Ben rules the other, overseeing the talking and typing warriors of the glaring, noisily freewheeling newsroom".


title: The Post (film)

text: Matt Bobkin, writing for "Exclaim!", gave the film a 6 out of 10 score, saying the film "has all the makings of an awards season hit, but is too calculated to reflect today's ragged, tenuous sociopolitical climate."


title: The Post (film)

text: Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com reflected on the film nearly two years after its release, noting that due to the film's accessibility and Spielberg's invisible style of direction, critics underrated the film and tended to take its story literally such as by fact-checking historical details, in spite of the film being a "coded commentary" and doubling "as a stealth portrait of the media’s responsibility in the age of Trump, and in any age."


title: The Post (film)

text: Bob Woodward, a "Washington Post" journalist who reported on the Watergate scandal, expressed that the film is a "masterpiece".


title: The Post (film)

text: The film portrays the original role that "The New York Times" had in breaking the "Pentagon Papers" and then emphasizes "The Washington Post"'s subsequent involvement. In an interview with the "Columbia Journalism Review", former "New York Times" associates James Greenfield, who coordinated the Pentagon Papers project as the "Times" foreign editor; James Goodale, the "Times" general counsel at the time; and Max Frankel, the "Times" Washington bureau chief when the Papers were published, criticized the film's more minor portrayal of the paper, although "The New York Times" is shown as publishing the "Pentagon Papers" before "The Washington Post" and having also set the stage for the major legal battle between the press and the United States government. The newspaper also won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its contributions.


title: The Post (film)

text: The 1972 Pulitzer jury of journalists noted in their recommendation not only the significance of Daniel Ellsberg's "Pentagon Papers" leak, but also that of "Times" reporters Neil Sheehan, Hedrick Smith, Fox Butterfield and E. W. Kenworthy, and stated that their effort was "a combination of investigative reporting, analysis, research, and writing — all of which added to a distinctly meritorious public service, not only for readers of The Times but also for an entire nation." Goodale noted in an article for "The Daily Beast" that the "Times" published the "Papers" after Ellsberg had leaked them to Sheehan, and further stated that the film "creates a false impression that the Post was a major player in such publication. It's as though Hollywood had made a movie about the Times' triumphant role in Watergate." On "PBS NewsHour", Goodale further said, "Although a producer has artistic license, I think it should be limited in a situation such as this, so that the public comes away with an understanding of what the true facts are in this case . . . And I think that if you're doing a movie now, when [President Donald] Trump is picking on the press for 'fake news', you want to be authentic. You don't want to be in any way fake."


title: Sajid Javid

text: Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove since 2010.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Born in Rochdale, Lancashire, to a British Pakistani family, Javid was raised largely in Bristol. He studied Economics and Politics at the University of Exeter, where he joined the Conservative Party. Working in banking, he rose to become a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank. He was elected to the House of Commons in May 2010. Under the coalition government of David Cameron he was a Junior Treasury Minister before being promoted to Cameron's Cabinet as Culture Secretary, following Maria Miller's resignation. After the 2015 general election, Cameron promoted Javid to Business Secretary.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid was a prominent supporter of the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign for the UK to remain in the European Union. Following the 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union, he went on to serve under Cameron's successor Prime Minister Theresa May, as Communities Secretary from 2016 to 2018. When Amber Rudd resigned as a result of the Windrush scandal in 2018, Javid was appointed as her successor as Home Secretary, becoming the first British Asian to hold one of the great offices of state. After May's resignation, Javid stood for election as Leader of the Conservative Party in the 2019 leadership contest, finishing in fourth place. The successful candidate, Boris Johnson, appointed him Chancellor of the Exchequer in his first Cabinet. Javid resigned as Chancellor during the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle after refusing a demand from Johnson and his chief adviser Dominic Cummings that he dismiss his advisers, and was succeeded by Rishi Sunak.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In June 2021, following the resignation of Matt Hancock, he was reappointed to Johnson's cabinet as Health Secretary. This made him a prominent figure in the British government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. He supported an end to most generalised public health restrictions such as face mask mandates until emergence of the Omicron variant in November 2021, and expanded the vaccination programme. Javid resigned as Health Secretary on 5 July 2022, and was the first of 61 Conservative MPs to resign during the government crisis which culminated in Johnson's own resignation. He was succeeded by Steve Barclay.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid stood to replace Johnson in the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, but withdrew from the race before he could be nominated, and subsequently returned to the backbenches. In December 2022, Javid said that he would not stand for re-election at the next general election, due to be held no later than January 2025.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid was born on 5 December 1969 in Rochdale, Lancashire, one of five sons of Pakistani Punjabi immigrant parents. His family were farmers from the village of Rajana near Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, from where they migrated to the UK in the 1960s. His father worked as a bus driver. His mother did not speak English until she had been in the UK for ten years. His family moved from Lancashire to Stapleton Road, Bristol, as his parents took over a shop there, and the family lived in a two-bedroom flat above it. Javid is able to hold a conversation in broken Punjabi. Despite having an Islamic upbringing, Javid no longer practises any religion.


title: Sajid Javid

text: As a teenager, Javid developed an interest in financial markets, following the Thatcher government's privatisations. He says that, at the age of fourteen, he borrowed £500 from a bank to invest in shares and became a regular reader of the "Financial Times".


title: Sajid Javid

text: From 1981 to 1986, Javid attended Downend School, a state comprehensive near Bristol. At school it was recommended that he should be a TV repairman. Javid has said he was told that he could not study maths at O Level so he had to get his father to pay for it. When he later witnessed a video showing an assault on a Syrian refugee, he remarked that it was reminiscent of bullying he had experienced at school; Javid said he faced racial abuse when younger, being called a 'Paki', and having faced abuse from "National Front skinheads". Speaking in 2014, Javid said that while at school: "I was naughty, more interested in watching "Grange Hill" than homework". After being told by his school that he could only study two A Levels when he believed he needed three to go to university, Javid subsequently attended Filton Technical College from 1986 to 1988, and finally the University of Exeter from 1988 to 1991, completing a BA in economics and politics.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid was a trustee of the London Early Years Foundation, a governor of Normand Croft Community School, and has led an expedition to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the highest mountain in Africa, to show his support of Help the Aged.


title: Sajid Javid

text: At university, he joined the Conservative Party. In 1990, aged 20, Javid attended the annual Conservative Party Conference for the first time and campaigned against the Thatcher government's decision that year to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). He was handing out leaflets against the policy when he first met TV presenter Jeremy Paxman. He has since said that Paxman first interviewed him at that same conference.


title: Sajid Javid

text: From 1992 until 1996, he lived in New York City and rose to become the youngest Vice-President of Chase Manhattan Bank and during this period, he had a spell as an aide to Republican nominee Rudy Giuliani's successful 1993 New York mayoral campaign.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 1998, Javid was selected as prospective Parliamentary candidate for Brent North. However, he later withdrew.


title: Sajid Javid

text: He worked as an adviser to Conservative MP Gary Streeter, the then Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid had an 18-year City career, during which he rose to become a board member of Deutsche Bank International. Javid joined Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City immediately after graduation, working mostly in Latin America and selling Mexican government bonds prior to the Mexican peso crisis. Aged 25, he became a vice president. A 2012 article says he was vice-chairman, although his own website, among others, affirms the more probable claim that he was a vice president, a more junior role at the bank. He returned to London in 1997, and later joined Deutsche Bank as a director in 2000. In 2004, he became a managing director at Deutsche Bank and, the following year, global head of Emerging Markets Structuring. He was also an Advisor to Lufthansa in Germany.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2007, he relocated to Singapore as head of Deutsche Bank's credit trading, equity convertibles, commodities and private equity businesses in Asia, and was appointed a board member of Deutsche Bank International Limited.


title: Sajid Javid

text: He left Deutsche Bank in 2009 to pursue a career in politics. His earnings at Deutsche Bank would have been roughly £3 million a year at the time he left and the "Evening Standard" once estimated his career change would have required him to take a 98% pay cut.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid applied for and held non-domicile status for six years during his banking career which allowed him to avoid paying tax in the UK on his overseas earnings.


title: Sajid Javid

text: On 28 May 2009, the sitting MP for Bromsgrove, Julie Kirkbride, announced that she would be standing down at the next general election in light of the expenses scandal; Kirkbride had represented the constituency since 1997. Her resignation was confirmed in December 2009, after she attempted to withdraw it.


title: Sajid Javid

text: After a selection contest held by the Bromsgrove Conservative Association on 6 February 2010, in which he received over 70% of the votes cast by its members, Javid was announced as the official Conservative Party parliamentary candidate for the 2010 general election. The other candidates up for selection included Ruth Davidson and Tina Stowell. On 6 May 2010, Javid received 22,558 votes, winning the seat by a majority of 11,308 votes. In terms of the number of votes cast in the constituency, this was an increase on the majority of 10,080 at the previous general election, though was a reduction when compared both to the actual number of votes his predecessor had received (24,387) and to the Conservatives' percentage share of the vote (43.7% versus 51.0% in 2005). The constituency's boundaries had reformed prior to the election.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In the 2019 general election, Javid received 34,408 votes and was returned as the MP for Bromsgrove, receiving 63.4% of the vote and increasing his already sizeable majority to 23,106 over Labour.


title: Sajid Javid

text: According to former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, those MPs first elected in 2010 "are the best new MPs for over thirty years", and he identified Javid as one of six Conservative MPs that he believed had "already made an impact in the first term". Javid was also one of six new MPs profiled by the "Financial Times", and was named as the Newcomer of 2010 by the ConservativeHome blog.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In October 2012, Iain Dale in "The Daily Telegraph" included Javid in his list of "Top 100 most influential figures from the Right". Dale wrote: "His fast rise up the greasy pole into George Osborne's inner circle is not only proof of this man's ambition but also his talent." Nicholas Watt in "The Guardian" also suggested that Javid could rise to the top.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In "The Times" 2014 right-wing power list, Javid moved up 18 places to #8, with the article stating that he had emerged "as the senior member of the 2010 intake" and that if "the Tories want to jump a generation, then a Javid leadership candidacy would provide the opportunity." The 2014 GG2 Power List ranked Javid as the most influential British Asian, and, at the accompanying GG2 Leadership Awards event on 5 November 2014, then-Prime Minister David Cameron described Javid as "the brilliant Asian man who I asked to join the Cabinet" and said that "I want to hear that title 'Prime Minister' followed by a British Asian name." In July 2014, "Forbes" magazine compared Javid to Barack Obama and suggested that Javid could become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In January 2015, Javid was awarded the Politician of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards. In November 2017, Sajid Javid won Patchwork Foundation's MP of the Year Award.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In June 2018, a polling of Tory activists on ConservativeHome showed Javid was popular as a potential party leader. The poll is seen as a reliable barometer of grassroots opinion, although it is known to shift quickly. A separate poll of Conservative Party members by YouGov in July 2018 also showed he had high levels of support to become party leader. YouGov found Javid reached the height of the charts on two measures; with 64% thinking he is "up to the job" and 69% calling him "competent".


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid's appointment as Home Secretary was welcomed by a number of Jewish organisations, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Previously, as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Javid wrote to all local council leaders to ask them to adopt the IHRA's definition of anti-Semitism. In 2015, addressing the Holocaust Educational Trust's annual dinner, the then Business Secretary Javid condemned "dinner party anti-Semites" and said, "I can't remember the last time I spoke to a Jewish friend or colleague who hasn't, at some point, found themselves sitting awkwardly at a dinner party while a fellow guest railed against the international 'kosher conspiracy'".


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2018, Javid suggested Jeremy Corbyn should quit as Labour leader following his decision to attend a 2014 wreath-laying at a cemetery which contained the graves of many Palestinian activists; including Salah Khalaf and Atef Bseiso, members of the Black September Organization.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In March 2018, Javid called Momentum "neo-fascist" in the House of Commons chamber. Momentum threatened legal action if he repeated the comment outside Parliament where parliamentary privilege does not protect him against a lawsuit. MPs including Jon Trickett, Chris Williamson, Alex Sobel, Clive Lewis and Caroline Lucas demanded Javid withdraw the statement and apologise.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In July 2018, Javid back-tracked after Jeremy Corbyn had threatened legal action for linking Corbyn with Holocaust denial. Labour MPs accused Javid of "peddling a lie" and called on Theresa May to intervene.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid rejected a request by the Muslim Council of Britain for an independent inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party. Javid said: "The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) does not represent Muslims in this country" and added "we don't deal with the MCB". Harun Khan, the MCB's secretary-general said, "it sadly indicates that the party has no interest in dealing with this matter with the seriousness it deserves".


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid was rebuked by MPs and human rights campaigners for tweeting about "Asian paedophiles", with the director of the Runnymede Trust commenting: "racialising this crime and focusing on the ethnicity of the sexual predators has done little to address why and how these victims were vulnerable to the prey of these sexual predators". "The Independent" suggested Javid had ulterior motives with an impending leadership battle and said, "If Javid imagines his racial and religious origins offer any defence to the charge of incendiary race-baiting, he must be out of his tiny mind." His comments were defended by Fraser Nelson, editor of "The Spectator", who said: "The way to stop populists is for mainstream politicians to address difficult and important issues calmly and directly."


title: Sajid Javid

text: Baroness Warsi has criticised Javid for dog-whistling: "he should read what these people are saying, because however much he dog-whistles, however much he panders to the right of our party, sadly the right of our party still believe he's far too Muslim to be leader of the party".


title: Sajid Javid

text: In August 2019, John McDonnell questioned Javid's suitability for the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, citing his background in sales of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and alleged links to tax avoidance schemes. Javid held several senior executive positions in investment banking, including a role with responsibility for sale of CDOs, and during his time Deutsche Bank had operated a tax avoidance scheme known as "dark blue" that channelled bankers' bonus payments through the Cayman Islands.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In June 2016, following David Cameron's resignation after the result of the EU referendum, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Stephen Crabb announced that he would be standing in the 2016 Conservative leadership election, on a "joint ticket" with Javid. If Crabb became Prime Minister, Javid would become Chancellor of the Exchequer. Crabb withdrew from the contest after the first round of voting amongst Conservative Members of Parliament. Shortly after withdrawing his bid, Crabb resigned from the Cabinet following allegations that he had sent suggestive messages to a young woman.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In an interview with the "Financial Times", Javid said he had expected to be sacked when Theresa May became Prime Minister in July 2016, instead he was moved across in a re-shuffle to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Crabb subsequently took a post as Parliamentary Chairman of "Conservative Friends of Israel".


title: Sajid Javid

text: In May 2019, Javid launched his bid to become Conservative leader with pledge to deliver Brexit and to "bridge divides" by promoting the shared values which unite Britain. He finished in fourth place. Javid's campaign was advised by Matthew Elliott, former chief executive of Vote Leave. The campaign received funding from both Remain- and Leave-supporting Conservative donors.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid indicated he would be prepared to take Britain out of the EU without a deal, and called for no-deal preparations to be stepped up. Javid set out his Brexit strategy in a piece for the "Daily Mail", declaring "no, no, no" to the idea of allowing either another Brexit referendum, an early general election or revoking of Article 50. Javid also proposed covering costs for implementing any new technology at the Irish border in a bid to try and break the deadlock over the Northern Ireland backstop. During the campaign, Javid also opposed the prorogation of parliament in order to deliver Brexit. He commented during the Channel 4 Conservative Party leadership debate, "You don't deliver on democracy by trashing democracy... We're not selecting a dictator of our country." A third-party tweet which contained part of this quote on his leadership campaign Twitter account was deleted on 29 August 2019, the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's controversial decision to prorogue parliament. In a BBC Radio 4 interview on 31 August, Javid defended the prime minister's prorogation of parliament. The prorogation was ruled to be unlawful on 24 September by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid said he was prepared to scrap the 45p rate of income tax entirely in a bid to inject more "dynamism" into the economy, pointing to the fact that tax revenues increased after the decision to cut the 50p rate of income tax to 45p and his role in making the case for it when he worked in the Treasury.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid was eliminated from the contest after achieving fewer votes than his three remaining competitors in the fourth round of voting.


title: Sajid Javid

text: On 10 July 2022, Javid announced his candidacy to replace Johnson in the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, but withdrew prior to the first ballot.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid was briefly a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee from June to November 2010, before relinquishing this position when he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to John Hayes, then Minister of State for Further Education at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Javid was one of the first MPs to become a PPS from the 2010 intake.


title: Sajid Javid

text: On 14 October 2011, as part of a small reshuffle prompted by the resignation of Liam Fox as Defence Secretary, Javid was promoted to become PPS to then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In September 2012, Javid joined Osborne's Ministerial team as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. He was later promoted to Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 7 October 2013, replacing Greg Clark.


title: Sajid Javid

text: As Economic Secretary, Javid was responsible for overseeing government plans for state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Lloyds Banking Group.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid proposed to scrap rebate taxes for overseas investors in a bid to boost the competitiveness of asset management in the UK.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2013, Javid was influential in getting the beer duty escalator abolished and cutting beer duty for the first time in over a half-century. In his honour, a commemorative beer was brewed called "Sajid's Choice" and served in the Strangers' Bar at the House of Commons and sold locally in Bromsgrove.


title: Sajid Javid

text: On 9 April 2014, David Cameron appointed Javid to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Equalities following the resignation of Maria Miller over her expenses. This made him the first MP to have been elected at the 2010 general election to join the Cabinet, and the first British Pakistani MP to lead a Government Department. Shortly after his appointment, he was made a Privy Councillor.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid defended media freedom and the right of the press to investigate wrongdoing by politicians and officials in his first appearance as Culture Secretary on BBC's "Question Time" programme. "The media are a cornerstone of our democracy, their freedom is very important and if they want to investigate wrongdoing by politicians or any other public official they should do that and nothing should stop them from doing that." It was reported in May 2015 that in March, Javid had opposed plans by then-Home Secretary Theresa May to give Ofcom "counter-extremism powers" to vet British television programmes before they were broadcast. In a letter to David Cameron, he commented that countries which had similar arrangements "are not known for their compliance with rights related to freedom of expression and the Government may not wish to be associated with such regimes".


title: Sajid Javid

text: His speech as Culture Secretary to the Union of Jewish Students' Annual Conference 2014 about the importance of diversity and free expression in the world of culture has been hailed by Isabel Hardman of "The Spectator" as "one of the finest speeches from a government minister I have ever read."


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2015, at a Board of Deputies of British Jews hustings event, Javid stated that publicly funded cultural institutions that boycott Israel risk having their government grants cut. Citing a boycott of the UK Jewish Film Festival by the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, Javid said: "I have made it absolutely clear what might happen to their [the theatre's] funding if they try, or if anyone tries, that kind of thing again." British playwright Caryl Churchill raised concerns about political interference in the arts, and questioned: "All Charlie Hebdo? Except when freedom of expression means freedom to criticise Israel".


title: Sajid Javid

text: Following the 2015 general election, Javid was appointed as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the new Conservative majority government under Prime Minister David Cameron. He was at this time described as "the most robust right-winger in the cabinet", and a "true Thatcherite".


title: Sajid Javid

text: After being appointed as Business Secretary, Javid said that there would be "significant changes" to strike laws under the new Conservative government, announcing that strikes affecting essential public services will need the backing of 40% of eligible union members under new government plans.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid believed the UK ought to remain in the European Union. He described himself as a Eurosceptic with "no time for ever-closer union", but he wrote in "The Daily Telegraph", "Just like Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and IMF head Christine Lagarde, I still believe that Britain is better off in. And that's all because of the Single Market. It's a great invention, one that even Lady Thatcher campaigned enthusiastically to create."


title: Sajid Javid

text: In February 2017, it was revealed in court that Javid had ignored the advice of a senior civil servant in order to continue to grant export licences for weapons to Saudi Arabia, despite allegations of war crimes in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. A February 2016 email from Edward Bell, head of the Export Control Organisation, was read out as part of a judicial review into British arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The email said: "To be honest, and I was very direct and honest with [Sajid Javid], my gut tells me we should suspend [weapon exports to Saudi Arabia]". In a later email, he said: "[Sajid Javid] decided not to take a decision about this last night and the matter has now been raised with [the prime minister]".


title: Sajid Javid

text: Creation of a pubs code and pubs code adjudicator (PCA); the SBEE Act 2015 compelled the Business Secretary to create the office of the PCA in one year (s42 (1) SBEE Act 2015) i.e. by 26 March 2016. The code was not published until 20 July 2016 and came into force the following day 21 July 2016, the unlawful delay to the code was overseen by Sajid Javid. Pub tenants were denied an opportunity to use their rights for months as the statutory deadline had been broken. This unlawful delay also pushed forward the pubs code review until 2019, when the code review could have happened a year earlier in 2018.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In July 2016, Javid was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by Prime Minister Theresa May. In the role, he focused on increasing housing supply, including delivering a new generation of affordable and council housing. He had previously described council homes as "poor housing for the poor", but helped secure funds for new local council building in the 2017 budget.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2017, Javid threatened to cancel Europe's largest Palestine convention, Palestine Expo. Javid, whose department controlled the QEII Centre, had warned that he was "minded" to cancel the event. Javid's intervention came amid claims by various Jewish and pro-Israel groups that the organisers had previously praised Hamas.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2017, a judge ruled that Javid acted unlawfully in issuing guidance to restrict local councils from pursuing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel through their pension schemes. The Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign called it a "victory for Palestine, for local democracy, and for the rule of law".


title: Sajid Javid

text: As Communities Secretary, Javid launched a wide-ranging programme of leasehold and commonhold reform. This began with a forthright speech at the 2017 conference for the main leasehold property managers trade body ARMA (Association of Residential Managing Agents), where Javid targeted rogue managing agents as well as the exorbitant service charges faced by many leaseholders across England and Wales. This was well received by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership charity. In September 2017, Javid championed innovation collaborative efforts between the UK and Commonwealth Nations by awarding the first Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship in Innovation to Joshua Cheong and Dr Khoo Hsien Hui respectively.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In December 2017, after a public consultation which attracted a high response rate, it was announced that efforts to end "feudal" leasehold practices would include a ban on future leasehold houses as well as setting ground rents in new build flats to zero. By April 2018, a series of policies aimed at regulating both the managing and letting agent sectors was unveiled such as a new system for leaseholders to challenge unfair service charges, empowering leaseholders to switch managing agent and requirements for managing and letting agents to professionalise their operations.


title: Sajid Javid

text: On 30 April 2018, Javid was appointed as Home Secretary after Amber Rudd resigned for misleading MPs about "targets for removing illegal immigrants", a consequence of the ongoing Windrush scandal. Javid began his role saying that he was determined to fix the injustices of the Windrush scandal, and launched a consultation.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In becoming Home Secretary, he became the first person from an Asian background to hold one of the Great Offices of State in the UK. In his first months in charge, he put clear water between his tenure and Theresa May's lengthy stint at the Home Office. He offered an olive branch to the Police Federation, secured a review on medicinal cannabis oil, and won an increase in tier 2 visas for skilled workers. Javid won plaudits from Lord Tebbit, who suggested "Sajid Javid has seized control of his notoriously bloody minded department".


title: Sajid Javid

text: In June 2018, Javid lifted the cap on immigration for NHS doctors and nurses and proposed adjustments to the "hostile environment" policy on immigration.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid has argued against EU citizens having preferential rights to live and work in the UK after Brexit, saying, "There's no magical reason it should be only from the EU and I think being a global Britain means that should be from across the world." This was seen to be at loggerheads with Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond. Javid has said that EU citizens who have lived in the UK for at least five years would be eligible for a new "settled status" in the country post-Brexit.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Child chess prodigy Shreyas Royal was allowed to stay in the UK after Javid personally intervened in the case under "exceptional talent" rules; it is very rare for the talent of a child to be a consideration in an immigration case.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid unveiled plans at Cabinet for a crackdown on the number of low-skilled migrants coming to the UK after Britain leaves the EU, despite objections from Hammond and Greg Clark, the Business Secretary. It represented a significant victory for May and Javid and came after months of "Cabinet clashes" over the issue.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In January 2019, Javid suggested denying asylum to asylum-seekers coming across the English Channel, questioning whether they were "genuine" and vowing to "do everything we [the UK] can to make sure that you are often not successful". This was objected to as a violation of international law by bodies such as the Refugee Council and Amnesty International.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid made similar comments in February of that year when he said that British citizens who joined ISIS would not be allowed to return to the United Kingdom, despite a statement from the Justice Secretary David Gauke to the contrary. On 19 February, Javid revoked the British citizenship of Shamima Begum, a British 19-year-old who left to join ISIS in 2015, when she was 16. He said that she had Bangladeshi citizenship, the country of her mother which she had never lived in, but both the Bangladesh state authorities and Begum denied this. The government had already failed in a similar move involving statelessness and Britons of Bangladeshi descent in 2017.


title: Sajid Javid

text: This move enjoyed widespread popular support in the UK, with 78% of voters in a Sky News poll saying that Javid was right to strip her of her citizenship. However, "Guardian" journalist Amy Walker suggested that this feeling was not wholly shared in the area in which she formerly resided, Bethnal Green, and that many residents of the area did not believe she posed a threat or could not be reintegrated. Javid's decision was also opposed by Church of England bishops and Javid's political opponent, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, who said that the move was a breach of Begum's human rights. Amnesty International stated that revoking Begum's citizenship was "morally and legally questionable".


title: Sajid Javid

text: On 8 March 2019, it was announced by Begum's family and officers of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria that Begum's newborn son had died. Javid was widely criticised for his actions, and held directly culpable for the death of the boy, Jarrah, by a number of commentators, including British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2018, his first speech to the Police Federation, Javid said, "I'm listening and I get it". He then promised a shift in priorities in a bid to better protect police officers in the next Home Office spending review. In his speech, Javid gave his support to stop and search powers.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In July 2018, Javid announced the UK government would not object to the United States seeking the death penalty for two suspected British members of ISIL, waiving its long-standing objection to foreign executions.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In response to the child sexual exploitation scandal, Javid ordered research into why men convicted of grooming-gang sex crimes are disproportionately of Pakistani origin. He has argued that "we need an honest, open debate on child sexual exploitation, including racial motivation". The decision won praise, with Trevor Phillips suggesting "in his assault on liberal guilt over race, Sajid Javid is putting his Labour opponents to shame" and Camilla Cavendish commented that the "home secretary's heritage gives him a powerful voice against groomers".


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid vowed to use counter-terrorism powers to strip dual citizens involved in child-grooming gangs and other serious crimes of their British citizenship. In December 2018, in what may be the first case of its kind, a man's dual citizenship was removed on the basis that when he applied to be a UK citizen he lied about the fact he was sexually abusing a child.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid launched an investigation into the Home Office's handling of forced marriage cases after "The Times" revealed that abusers are being handed visas. In a series of tweets, he said: "We will be doing more to combat it and support victims. Those who force British women into marriage, be warned that we are redoubling our efforts to make sure you pay for your crimes."


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid rejected a cross-party demand to introduce exclusion zones around all abortion centres in England and Wales, saying it would not be a "proportionate response". More than 150 MPs wrote to Javid, shortly after he took over from Rudd, calling on him to introduce a national ban.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2018, Javid showed concern for the growing child abuse online making the use of technology insecure for children. He spoke at the NSPCC headquarters for online child sexual exploitation held on 3 September 2018. During his speech he announced the allocation of £21.5m for the investigation of the online child sex offenders on different technological and social platforms. He also announced the allocation of £26m for prevention activities to be carried out by different bodies.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid used an exceptional power as home secretary to issue a licence for a child with acute epilepsy to be treated with medical cannabis oil as a matter of urgency. Javid also launched a new panel to consider applications from patients seeking to use cannabis oil and announced a review of medicinal cannabis.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Following advice from the Chief Medical Officer and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Javid announced that medicinal cannabis will be available for prescription on the NHS. Javid, writing in "The Times", stated that prescribing medicinal cannabis was not a step towards legalisation for recreational use.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In February 2019, Javid laid an order in Parliament adding Hezbollah's political wing to the UK's list of proscribed terror organisations.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2018, Javid was a keynote speaker at the Conservative Friends of Israel Conference and stated he intends to strengthen the partnership between UK and Israel, "especially in security".


title: Sajid Javid

text: In 2019, Javid announced the government would increase funding for the security of synagogues, schools and other Jewish centres. The government's new pledge will bring the amount it has allocated to the "Jewish Community Protective Security Grant" to £65.2 million since its introduction in 2015.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In response to the Christchurch mosque shootings, Javid warned social media firms that they would face the "force of the law" if they did not do more to remove extremist content and announced a forthcoming online harms white paper, which is expected to introduce legal regulation of online publishers and social media, including new censorship rules.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid has condemned some critics of the government's Prevent anti-terror scheme for being "on the side of the extremists."


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid vowed to tackle anti-LGBT hate crime and set up a new LGBT Advisory Panel to deliver the Government's action plan. Javid apologised for historical homophobia within the Home Office: "Undercover police were instructed to loiter in bars, entrap gay men and put them in jail. Let me tell you, as the current Home Secretary, that was wrong, wrong, wrong, and I'm sorry that it ever happened".


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid announced a full Law Commission review of hate crime, including the possible addition of new "protected characteristics" such as misogyny and age in the same way as offences motivated by hostility based on race, religion, sexual orientation or disability. In 2018, charities estimated around one million older people were victims of physical, financial, psychological and sexual abuse each year. However, criminal convictions were rare and sentences considered lenient.


title: Sajid Javid

text: On 24 July 2019, Javid was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the new Boris Johnson cabinet. Upon his appointment, he tweeted that he was looking forward to working at the Treasury to prepare the United Kingdom for leaving the EU. In his first media intervention after becoming Chancellor, Javid pledged in "The Sunday Telegraph" to overhaul the Treasury's approach to Brexit, beginning with "significant extra funding" to get Britain ready to leave with or without a deal.


title: Sajid Javid

text: In September 2019, Javid stood by Johnson's statement to suspend parliament and leave the EU. He confirmed that though Johnson would be looking for a new deal in the 17 October Council in Brussels, he would not ask for extension of Article 50 and hence the UK would leave the EU come 31 October. On 26 January 2020, a 50p coin to mark Brexit was unveiled by Javid, bearing the inscription 'Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations' and the new leaving date of 31 January. Javid helped raise thousands of pounds at the Jewish Care business breakfast by auctioning a Brexit 50p coin, co-signed by himself and Boris Johnson.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Javid intervened to ensure Andrew Bailey was appointed as Governor of the Bank of England. Dominic Cummings had lobbied for appointment of Andy Haldane to take over from Mark Carney as Governor.


title: Sajid Javid

text: Tensions between 10 Downing Street and Treasury had come to a head during August 2019, when the prime minister's chief adviser Dominic Cummings relieved one of Chancellor Javid's aides, Sonia Khan, of her employment, without Javid's permission and without informing him. It was alleged that, during her dismissal, Cummings "went outside No 10 and asked an armed officer to enter the building and escort Khan off the premises." Javid "voiced anger" to Johnson over the dismissal of Khan and Cummings faced the prospect of a probe by a governmental ethics watchdog following the dismissal. In November 2019, following questions of a rift between Johnson and Javid, Johnson gave his assurance that he would retain Javid as Chancellor after the 2019 general election.


title: Sajid Javid

text: However, in the weeks leading up to the reshuffle, a number of briefings in the press had suggested that a new economic ministry led by Rishi Sunak might be established, to reduce the power and political influence of the Treasury. Sunak was considered to be a Johnson loyalist, seen as the "rising star" minister who had ably represented the prime minister during the 2019 election debates. By February 2020, it was reported that Javid would remain in his role as Chancellor and that Sunak would stay on as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in order to "keep an eye" on Javid.