Former Westside BID director Saqib Bhatti has been promoted to a ministerial position in the Conservative government as a result of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet shake up this week.
Mr Bhatti, who became MP for Meriden in the 2019 General Election, is now a junior minister in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology.
His formal title as a minister is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy.
Mr Bhatti said: “I am honoured to become a minister in the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology. As a nation, we are on the brink of huge innovation and I am so excited by the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead for us.”
As part of his move into a ministerial role, Mr Bhatti has left the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, where he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary, and has stepped down from the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and from his role as Vice Chair of Conservatives for Business.
Before becoming an MP, Mr Bhatti was a director of the family accountancy firm Younis Bhatti & Co Ltd on Broad Street, and was heavily involved with Westside BID.
Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, said: “We’re thrilled to continue to watch the developing political career of Saqib, who did so much here at the BID.
“It’s particularly interesting that Saqib has been appointed to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, as I know that he is keen to suport new ideas that help modern businesses.”
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