There are now eleven people running to be the next leader of the Conservative party. It is not easy to tell who is in the lead in this race. Rehman Chishti, however, stands out as the candidate who has the least chance of winning.
Even in Gillingham and Rainham, which Chishti has been representing in parliament since 2010, he is not a well-known name, and many locals would not have thought of him when they were thinking about who should replace Boris Johnson. This is not an unfair thing to say. Since 2010, Chishti has been their voice in parliament.
When the former lawyer joined the House of Commons at the young age of 31, he was mentioned in several profiles as a new lawmaker to watch. One profile even said that he could become prime minister in the future.
But in the years since then, Chishti has stayed in the back of the room. He has only been a vice-chairman of the Conservative party for a short time and Boris Johnson’s special envoy for religious freedom for a year. Since the 1980s, Chishti has also been a member of the Conservative party.
He finally became a minister last week, when he was made a third-tier minister at the Foreign Office. This happened because there were so many resignations, which led to Johnson’s resignation and forced No. 10 to bring in a lot of new people. The mass resignations were sparked by Johnson’s decision to leave office.
After being born in Pakistan, Chishti grew up in Kent. After getting his law degree and becoming a barrister, Chishti worked for a while as an advisor to Benazir Bhutto, who was the former prime minister of Pakistan. He first worked as a councillor and then as a member of parliament when he moved back to the UK.
Chishti quit as a special envoy in 2020 because of the internal markets bill. This bill gave ministers the power to change parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement with the EU without consulting the EU. Even though he backed Johnson’s campaign to become prime minister in 2019, Chishti did not back Johnson’s campaign.
“Aspirational Conservatism, fresh ideas, and a fresh team for a fresh start to move our great country forward” is what his campaign for prime minister, which seems to be based more on building his profile than on any real hope of winning, promises.
In an unusually low-key launch video that was put on Facebook, the Member of Parliament (MP) stands in a windy field. In the video, he talks about moving to the UK when he was six years old and not being able to speak English. He also talks about policies like lowering taxes and putting more attention on mental health.
