Sajid Javid appointed UK health minister after Matt Hancock resigns

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to re-establish his government’s authority after the health secretary resigned late Saturday for breaking his own pandemic rules.

Matt Hancock quit after he was caught embracing a senior aide in his office, in breach of the social distancing guidelines he helped to create. The episode rebounded immediately on Johnson, who had initially fought to keep Hancock in his job and then faced criticism for being too weak to fire the minister.

Two hours after Hancock resigned, the premier tried to draw a line under the controversy by naming Sajid Javid, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, as the new U.K. health secretary. Yet his choice of replacement is also potentially dangerous. Javid himself resigned during a face-to-face argument with Johnson when a cabinet reshuffle went wrong in February of 2020.

Since then, though, Javid has been loyal in the ranks and Johnson has now rewarded him with a return to the cabinet. “I have a lot of work to do,” Javid said in a pooled TV clip on Sunday. “We are still in a pandemic and I want to see that this comes to end as soon as possible.”