The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid – from one hostile environment to another

Sajid Javid’s memoir follows his journey from a frightened child in racist 1970s Rochdale to a leading member of a political party that has often attacked and marginalised people like him. It is also an intimate family portrait and a social history of race, class and aspiration in late 20th‑century Britain.

The opening chapters, full of skinheads and the taunt “Run, Paki, run”, contain the book’s most arresting scenes: graffiti on his father’s shop windows, everyday humiliations at school, and the buses where his father fought an informal colour bar to become a driver.

The book gives an affecting study of his parents. His mother’s illiteracy contrasts with a fierce commitment to her sons’ education — spotless uniforms, regimented homework and trips to the library — while his father appears as a man of energy but limited luck, a bus driver who repeatedly launches clothing businesses that almost always fail.

Britain, Rochdale

sajid javid, memoir, rochdale, 1970s britain, racism, skinheads, colour bar, bus driver, mother illiteracy, clothing business