It’s not unfair to say that even for the residents of Gillingham and Rainham, whom he has represented in parliament since 2010, Chisti is not well known and would not be on the minds of many locals when considering who should replace Boris Johnson. When he entered the Commons aged just 31, the former barrister was named in several profiles as a young MP to watch out for, with one even calling him a possible future prime minister. But in the years since then Chishti has remained firmly on the back burner, rising to no more than a brief stint as deputy leader of the Conservative party and a year as Boris Johnson’s special envoy for religious freedom. It was only last week that he finally achieved ministerial status, becoming third-tier minister at the Foreign Office as the mass of resignations that eventually prompted Johnson to step down forced No 10 to join a raft of newcomers. Born in Pakistan, Chishti grew up in Kent and after studying law and becoming a barrister spent a period as an adviser to Benazir Bhutto when she was Prime Minister of Pakistan. Back in the UK, he became a councilor and then an MP. While he backed Johnson to become prime minister in 2019, Chisti resigned as special envoy in 2020 on the internal markets bill, which gave ministers the power to unilaterally rewrite elements of Brexit’s withdrawal agreement with the EU. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST His prime ministerial bid, which appears to be based more on raising his profile than any realistic prospect of victory, promises “ambitious conservatism, fresh ideas, a fresh team for a fresh start that takes our great country forward.” In a particularly low-key opening video, posted on Facebook, the MP stands in the windy countryside, where he discusses his arrival in the UK aged six in 1984, unable to speak English, and policies that include lower tax and a focus on better mental well-being.
