SAJID Javid’s promotion to UK Health Secretary has been described by Dominic Cummings as “awful” for the NHS.
Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, who says he “tricked” the Prime Minister into firing Javid as chancellor, lashed out following Matt Hancock's resignation.
The reshuffle comes after video footage emerged of Hancock kissing an aide in his ministerial office in a breach of coronavirus restrictions.
Images and video showed the Tory in an embrace with aide Gina Coladangelo last month, and Conservative MPs told of how their inboxes had filled with complaints similar to those they received during Cummings's infamous trip to Barnard Castle.
Javid has said he was "honoured" to be asked to replace Hancock as Health Secretary.
Cummings, however, was not impressed, claiming that Boris Johnson’s wife was behind the appointment.
He tweeted: “So Carrie appoints Saj! NB If I hadn't tricked PM into firing Saj, we'd have had a HMT with useless SoS/spads, no furlough scheme, total chaos instead of JOINT 10/11 team which was a big success.
“Saj = bog standard = chasing headlines + failing = awful for NHS. Need #RegimeChange”
So Carrie appoints Saj! NB If I hadn't tricked PM into firing Saj, we'd have had a HMT with useless SoS/spads, no furlough scheme, total chaos instead of JOINT 10/11 team which was a big success. Saj = bog standard = chasing headlines + failing = awful for NHS. Need #RegimeChange
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) June 26, 2021
READ MORE: Matt Hancock's resignation shows Scotland must ‘say goodbye’ to UK
Javid's appointment marks a return to the top of politics after he abruptly left the Cabinet in shock fashion some 16 months ago.
He was just six months into his role as chancellor, and less than a month away from delivering his first Budget, when he quit after being told to sack all his advisers if he wanted to keep his job.
His departure in February last year came after a bruising Whitehall power struggle with Cummings.
But in a reversal of fortunes it is Javid who returns to No 10’s top team, while Cummings hurls criticism from outside Government.
Javid tweeted: "Honoured to have been asked to serve as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at this critical time.
"I look forward to contributing to our fight against the pandemic, and serving my country from the Cabinet once again."
Although he has resigned, questions are unlikely to go away for Hancock regarding the employment of university friend Coladangelo, who was first brought in to the department as an unpaid adviser and then given a £15,000-a-year job as a non-executive director.
Various outlets have reported that Coladangelo would also be leaving her DHSC job, but the department had not confirmed this on Saturday night.
Labour has called on all documents related to her employment to be released.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Hancock 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.
"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.
In a video posted on Twitter, the Tory MP added: "I understand the enormous sacrifices that everybody in this country has made, you have made. And those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and that's why I've got to resign."
In response to Hancock's resignation, the Prime Minister wrote: "Above all, it has been your task to deal with a challenge greater than that faced by any of your predecessors, and in fighting Covid you have risen to that challenge - with the abundant energy, intelligence, and determination that are your hallmark."
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