Racism in London’s Financial District

SAJID JAVID, FORMER U.K. CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: Well, this was 30 years ago. So, I was coming out of the university, toward of end of that. I was looking for a job. I wanted to work in investment banking, and I applied to what were then called merchant banks here in the U.K., in the City of London. And I soon realized, you know, unless you sort of wore the old-school tie and went to the same places on holiday and had the same connections, you weren’t really welcome. I applied at the same time to a couple American banks. It was Chase Manhattan and Merrill Lynch and I had offers from both of those banks, but not the British banks. And when I then turned up for work at my first job in New York with Chase Manhattan and I stayed with that bank for over a decade, that when I — I remember asking them that why did they offer me the job? What was it? And they said, look, all we care about is that, you know, you’re smart enough to do the job and you have hunger in your belly. And that’s what it should be about. It was just about your content of character and are you able to do the job. Now, as I say, I think the U.K. has come a long, long way since then. And – – especially — and it includes in business, in politics, for sure, in so many walks of life. Our police, I think, here are very, very different to the U.S. We police by consent. It’s not to say there aren’t challenges but we’re not the U.S. but we still need to make sure we’re not complacent and we keep tackling racial injustice wherever we find it.