Pakistani-origin Sajid Javid appointed as UK health minister

Appointment comes after Matt Hancock resigns over breaking Covid rules by kissing aide

LONDON:

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.

Hancock quit after he was caught breaking Covid-19 rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office, enraging colleagues and the public who have been living under lockdown.

Hancock, 42, wrote to PM Johnson to resign after The Sun newspaper published photos on Friday of the married minister embracing a woman who he had appointed to a taxpayer-funded role to scrutinise the performance of his department.

"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," Hancock said in his letter.

Hancock's replacement Javid has already held two of the top jobs in government, serving as finance minister from 2019 to 2020 and interior minister in 2018.

Also read: UK health minister quits after breaking Covid rules by kissing aide

Javid resigned as finance minister last year after he refused to fire his political advisers as demanded by Johnson.

One of five sons of Pakistani immigrant parents, he is a former managing director at Deutsche Bank and previously worked as an aide to former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Javid is known as the face of a modern, multicultural and meritocratic Britain.

On the economically liberal wing of the Conservative Party, Javid voted for Britain to stay in the EU in 2016. During his time as interior minister, he earned respect for his handling of a scandal over the treatment of the children of Caribbean immigrants, known as the Windrush generation.