Saqib Bhatti

He currently serves as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy since November 2023. He previously served as the Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Business.

Saqib Bhatti MBE MP
Official portrait, 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 November 2023
Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Paul Scully
Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Business
In office 30 September 2022 – 13 November 2023
Leader	Liz Truss Rishi Sunak
Member of Parliament for Meriden
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 December 2019
Preceded by	Caroline Spelman
Majority	22,836 (42.2%)
Personal details
Born	(1985-06-18) 18 June 1985 (age 38) Walsall, England
Political party	Conservative
Residence	Dorridge
Alma mater	London School of Economics and Political Science
Website	www.saqibbhatti.org.uk

Prior to serving in parliament, Bhatti founded the pro-Brexit group Muslims for Britain, which advocated for leaving the European Union (EU) in the 2016 referendum.

Bhatti was born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, England in a Pakistani immigrant family from Punjab. His father, Younis Bhatti, is from Gujjar Khan, while his mother is from Murree. Younis is UK secretary general of the Al-Shifa Eye Trust, a Pakistan-based eyecare hospital that provides treatment to individuals who cannot afford it. Bhatti attended the London School of Economics (LSE), where he served as president of the LSE Pakistan Society.

Bhatti is an accountant by profession. In 2018, he became the President of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, becoming the youngest person and first Muslim to hold the post.

Bhatti founded the group Muslims for Britain which campaigned for the UK to leave the EU during the Brexit referendum. He argued that EU policy prevented immigration from South Asia and that leaving the EU would make it easier. As of 2018^[update] he was a senior policy adviser with the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe.

After Caroline Spelman announced she was standing down as an MP, Bhatti was selected to represent the Conservative seat of Meriden at the 2019 general election, beating the political adviser Nick Timothy in the ballot of party members.

Saqib was appointed Private Parliamentary Secretary Liz Truss, the then Secretary of State to the Department for International Trade in 2020. He then moved to the Department for Health and Social Care where he served as Private Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP, whom he followed in resigning on 5 July 2022 in the aftermath of the Chris Pincher scandal.

On 30 September 2022, Bhatti became the Conservative Party's Vice Chair for Business.

Leadership election positions

In the July–September 2022 Conservative leadership election, Bhatti endorsed Liz Truss, stating that Truss "understands that for businesses to thrive, the government needs to get out of the way."

Bhatti was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours "for services to diversity and inclusion in the business community", while he was President of the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.

Bhatti also holds an honorary doctorate from Aston University in Business Administration.