UK's former finance minister Sajid Javid appointed as health minister
Javid resigned as finance minister last year after he refused to fire his political advisers
LONDON (Reuters) - British former finance minister Sajid Javid will replace Matt Hancock as the country’s health minister, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said on Saturday.
Javid resigned as finance minister last year after he refused to fire his political advisers as demanded by Johnson.
Earlier, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned following revelations he broke government coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide, with former finance minister Sajid Javid taking up the role.
The frontman for Britain’s response to the pandemic, particularly the nationwide vaccine roll-out, quit in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance," he wrote.
"The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis."
Johnson said he was sorry to receive Hancock’s resignation, and that he should be "immensely proud" of his service.
His Downing Street office later said that Queen Elizabeth II had approved the appointment of Sajid Javid MP as his replacement.
Johnson had initially stood by his health secretary after Hancock admitted breaking Covid social distancing rules, when at the same time he was urging the public to stick by the measures.
