Sajid Javid said that supporting Liz Truss in the Conservative leadership contest that ultimately made her prime minister was his “biggest mistake in politics”.

Speaking at the Hay festival in Wales while promoting his memoir, the former chancellor, who is no longer an MP, said there were friends in the Conservative party he remained in contact with.

Asked whether he still speaks to Truss, Javid responded: “No. I said ‘friends.” Broadcaster Aasmah Mir then asked: “Hang on a minute, did you not back her in the first leadership election?” to which Javid replied: “Biggest mistake in politics.”

After Boris Johnson’s resignation in 2022, Javid initially launched his own bid for the Conservative leadership before backing Truss after being eliminated from the contest. Truss’s premiership lasted just 49 days in 2022 after her government’s disastrous mini-budget.

Javid, who stood down as an MP at the 2024 election, was also asked by Mir what he thought of the swathe of Tory MPs defecting to Reform, to which he responded simply: “Good riddance.”

He also argued that the quality of Britain’s political class had deteriorated in recent years. He said: “Has the calibre of politicians declined in recent years? Yes. I think dramatically. But it would be unfair … to blame that just on the politicians. The politicians reflect what you vote for.

“Ultimately, the calibre of the politicians is on the people. If you want different politicians, you’ve got to vote differently – not just think about their party label or whatever – but also just about what kind of person they are, what’s really motivating them.”

Javid, who is now a partner at investment firm Centricus, made the case for increasing MPs’ pay, saying: “We don’t pay politicians enough to attract people from the top of their game – and that could be a head teacher, it could be an accountant, it could be a doctor – to leave their jobs and say, you know what, I want to serve my country.

“So to some extent, you get what you pay for … We should half the number of MPs and double their salaries.”

Javid served in a number of cabinet roles under David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, including as home secretary and chancellor. He later returned to government as health secretary under Johnson before stepping down in July 2022, amid a wave of resignations that ultimately led to the end of Johnson’s premiership.

After resigning as an MP before the 2024 general election, Javid became a partner at Centricus, a private equity and asset manager based in Mayfair founded by his former colleagues at Deutsche Bank. He also works as chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.