SAJID Javid’s appointment as Health Secretary sees him return to a Cabinet he abruptly left 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 he must 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 Boris Johnson’s then chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
But in a reversal of fortunes it is Javid who returns to Boris Johnson’s top team, while Cummings hurls criticism from outside Government.
Carrie Symonds, the Prime Minister’s wife, who previously clashed with Cummings, was once a special adviser to Javid during his tenure as communities secretary.
Javid’s previous showdown with Boris Johnson reached a climax when he refused to dismiss his team of aides and replace them with a joint No 10/No 11 unit.
READ MORE: Appointment of Sajid Javid 'awful for NHS', Dominic Cummings says
In a Commons statement, Javid said chancellors had to be able to “speak truth to power” and “the arrangement proposed would significantly inhibit that, and it would not have been in the national interest”.
He also took a swipe at Cummings, who has been blasting the UK Government’s pandemic performance since leaving No 10.
Tension between No 10 and No 11 simmered after Javid’s adviser, Sonia Khan, was escorted out of Downing Street by police after being sacked by Cummings in August 2019.
While he was Home Secretary, Javid was mocked by Scots after saying that he would not allow a second independence referendum if he became Prime Minister.
He said: “If I become Prime Minister, I won’t allow a second Scottish independence referendum.
“People stated views clearly in 2014, so there should be no second vote. Nicola Sturgeon should spend more time improving public services in Scotland, and less time grandstanding.”
Nicola Sturgeon hit back that Scots must have the “choice of an alternative” to Brexit.
She replied to Javid’s comments: “Memo to Tory leadership candidates: A majority of Scots – independence supporters and opponents alike – will not accept being told by a Tory PM that we are not ‘allowed’ to choose our own future.”
READ MORE: Sajid Javid wants to end lockdown 'as soon as possible' amid economy fears
The suggestion that Javid was in charge of Scotland was also mocked online by thousands of Twitter users, who used the #PermissionFromSajid tag to jokingly ask Javid permission to do menial tasks.
Carol Monaghan, SNP MP for Glasgow North West, tweeted: “Have given my husband a long to-do list for today but he’s not willing to get started until he has his #PermissionFromSajid.”
Former SNP deputy Angus Robertson wrote: “Dear @sajidjavid, Freyja and Marnie [his dogs] are desperate for a walk. Is it ok for me to take them out now? #PermissionFromSajid.”
“You sound if I head to bed @sajidjavid? Absolutely shattered,” wrote MP for Paisley & Renfrewshire South Mhairi Black.
“I’m putting the kettle on. Is that ok, @sajidjavid ???,” added Scottish actor Colin McCredie.
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light,” another Twitter user wrote, adding: “Only because he obtained #PermissionfromSajid”
Appointed in July 2019 to Johnson’s first Cabinet, Javid’s planned Budget in November that year was cancelled as the Prime Minister sought a snap election.
Javid, the first British Asian to hold one of the great offices of state, did not last long enough in the role to be able to deliver the parliamentary set-piece scheduled for the following March.
He was the shortest-serving chancellor since Iain Macleod, who died shortly after taking office in 1970, according to the Institute for Government.
Javid returns to the Cabinet to help lead the pandemic response at a crucial time, as efforts focus on suppressing a rise in coronavirus cases ahead of the planned easing of restrictions next month.
READ MORE: UK Justice Secretary says Matt Hancock 'worked without a break' to tackle Covid
Before his appointment this month, Javid said he would be introducing a private member’s Bill to raise the minimum age for marriage to 18, to protect vulnerable teenagers from religious and cultural pressures to marry too young.
Javid is the son of a bus driver, who arrived in England from Pakistan in the 1960s with just a pound in his pocket. To colleagues, he is The Saj.
He was a tough-talking home secretary, whose hard stance on jihadi bride Shamima Begum’s pleas to be allowed back in the UK boosted his popularity among some Tories, but horrified others – particularly after Begum’s newborn son later died in a Syrian refugee camp.
Javid made it to the final four in the race to replace Theresa May as Tory leader in 2019, but dropped out and subsequently endorsed Johnson.
Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson backed his campaign, saying his life life "embodies the Conservative values of aspiration, education, opportunity, hard work and just reward".
"Ruth knows a winner when she sees one," Javid told the Mail on Sunday.
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson backs Sajid Javid in Tory leadership race
Born in Rochdale and raised in Bristol, he went to a state school and studied economics and politics at Exeter University.
He left behind a career in finance and became MP for Bromsgrove in 2010.
According to his website, Javid was a vice president at the US bank Chase Manhattan at the age of 25 and later moved to Deutsche Bank, rising to senior managing director before he left in 2009.
He held roles in the Treasury from 2012 until he was made culture secretary in April 2014, later going on to become business secretary in May 2015 and housing secretary in July 2016.
After being made home secretary in April 2018, Javid talked openly about how he experienced racism at an early age and “could have had a life of crime” after growing up on “Britain’s most dangerous street”.
During his stunted leadership campaign, Javid played on his humble beginnings, saying his holidays were spent in Rochdale pretending he was somewhere else.
After being knocked out of the leadership race, Javid said: “Work hard, have faith in your abilities, and don’t let anyone try and cut you down to size or say you aren’t a big enough figure to aim high.
“You have as much right as anyone to a seat at the top table, to be ambitious for yourself, and to make your voice heard.”
Javid is married to Laura, and has four children and a dog.
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