Sajid Javid promises 20,000 police officers if he's made PM
Sajid Javid has said he will put 20,000 more policemen back on the streets if he were to become Prime Minister.
Challenged on the current knife crime epidemic and his role in stamping out the issue as Home Secretary, the Tory leader contender admitted there were 'issues' with policing numbers.
"I take full responsibility for doing all I can, it has been a priority of mine from day one," Sajid told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.
He added: "I have been Home Secretary for about a year and in that time I have done everything I can on all fronts, I accept my responsibility, I have never shied away from it.
"We need action on multiple fronts. It is about resources and I have accepted there is an issue around police numbers, I have said that, if I was prime minister, I would put 20,000 more police on the streets.”
Elsewhere, Sajid insisted that he will not withdraw from the Conservative Party leadership race, despite only just scraping through to the next round with 33 votes.
He explained: “I am not withdrawing. I am certainly going to absolutely continue. I am in this to win it. It’s important to remember with Conservative Party leader contests, they are full of surprises and it’s still all to play for.”
Sajid continued: “I know I was the only person on that stage who went to my local comp...I was the first in my family to go to university. The reason I am in this is because I don’t want that to be something rare. In the future, I want more people with my kind of background up there.”
Asked if he would put all the police that Theresa May removed back on the streets, he said: “I would. I think now when we look back, if you look at the rise of all types of crime, it was wrong to have the numbers cut in the way that they were.”
When challenged on how he would pay for the extra police, Sajid explained: “I would pay for all that by slowing the pace of debt reduction. I think we can afford to spend more but at the same time bring debt down.”
Piers and Susanna also grilled the Home Secretary on the drugs scandal that has swept Westminster recently, and he insisted he has never tried any illegal substances.
He said: “It’s true that I have never taken drugs. The street I grew up in in Bristol, it was the centre of the local drugs trade. I used to walk out my door every day, walk home from school and see the impact of drugs. It is something that has therefore never attracted me.”
However, Sajid said he doesn’t think politicians owning up to taking drugs disqualifies them from being Prime Minister, as he added: “I think it is good that they have been honest and straightforward. I don’t think [it disqualifies them] People should be forgiven if they have made mistakes.”
The conversation later turned to Brexit, to which Sajid insisted that he believes a deal can still be reached.
He said: “The way to defeat the Brexit Party is to Brexit and the best way to do that is with a deal. This is why I have set out a plan which is to focus on the current Withdrawal Agreement with a change to the backstop.
"One of the reasons that the EU keeps saying no is that they think we don’t have any realistic alternatives. The biggest mistake we have made on this is about three years ago, we walked into the negotiating room, we put our hands on the table and we let them handcuff us to the table. Now we need someone to unlock those handcuffs and I can do that. I have been doing billion-dollar negotiations for 20 years before I got into government."
He continued: “You prepare for No Deal, not because you want it, it is precisely to get a deal. We need to prepare more. We should have taken [the negotiations] seriously. We need someone in there that is a negotiator, that has the experience.”
At the close of the interview, Sajid said he was “quietly confident” about the next round of the leadership battle and promised to return to Good Morning Britain when he is in charge.
He promised: “I will see you when I am Prime Minister.”