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UPDATE: Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid delivers resignation speech

By Chris King • Updated: 06 Jul 2022 • 14:14

UPDATE: Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid delivers resignation speech

UPDATE: Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid delivers resignation speech. Image: Twocoms/Shutterstock.com

Sajid Javid delivered his resignation speech in the House of Commons following the PMQs on Wednesday, July 6.

UPDATE 2.08 pm (JULY 6) – Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid delivered his resignation speech after sensationally handing in his resignation to Boris Johnson on Tuesday, July 5.

Javid told the Commons: “Despite what it might seem, I am not one of life’s quitters.

“I did not quit when I was told that boys like me don’t do maths, I didn’t quit when old school bankers said I didn’t have the right school ties.

“I didn’t quit when people in my community said that I should not marry the love of my life. I cared deeply about public service, and giving back to this country that has given me so much,” he said.

“When I got the call from… the prime minister just over a year ago, I didn’t hesitate to serve again.

“It was a critical time for our country, tough decisions needed to be made about when we were going to come out of lockdown, about supporting the National Health Service and the care sector under unprecedented strain.”

He added: “I can only hope that my best has been good enough.”

Being health secretary was “undoubtedly also been one of the toughest roles that I have had so far,” he said.

He added: “The gravity of home office decisions, the scale of treasury decisions, but nothing matters more than the health of the British people, especially in the wake of a pandemic.”

Speaking about the NHS, Mr Javid said: “There is so much that I planned for the long term.

“For the long term reform of our health and care systems, and it is a wrench to leave important work behind.

“When I last gave a personal statement from this seat I spoke about the importance of institutions and conventions.

“Today, it is about the importance of integrity.

“Don’t worry, there’s not going to be a series of these.”

He added: “The public expects all of us to maintain honesty and maintain integrity” and “we must bring the country together as one nation.”

Following the Partygate scandal and the Chris Pincher allegations – although the latter was not mentioned specifically – Mr Javid said he had been “treading the tightrope between loyalty and integrity has become impossible in recent months.”

He said: “I will never risk losing my integrity.”

“Loyalty must go both ways,” Mr Javid said.

“The events of recent months have made it increasingly difficult to be in that team.

“It’s not fair on ministerial colleagues to go about every morning defending lines that don’t stand up and don’t hold up.

“It’s not fair on my parliamentary colleagues who bare the brunt of constituents’ dismay in their inbox and on their doorsteps in recent elections.

“And it’s not fair on Conservative members and voters who rightly expect better standards from the party they supported.”

Speaking about Partygate, Javid said he was assured “at the most senior level” that “there had been no parties in Downing Street and that no rules were broken” at the start of the scandal.

“So I gave the benefit of doubt and I went on those media rounds to say I had those assurances from the most senior level of the prime minister’s team,” he said.

“Then we had more stories, then we had the Sue Gray report. I continued to give the benefit of the doubt.

“This week again we have reason to question the truth and integrity of what we have all been told, and at some point we have to conclude that enough is enough.

“I believe that point is now.”

There’s only so many times you can turn that machine off and on before you realise that something is fundamentally wrong,” he concluded.

ORIGINAL 7.19 pm (July 5) – Health Secretary Sajid Javid has this evening (July 5) sensationally handed in his resignation to Boris Johnson. In the process, he demanded that the Prime Minister should also resign, claiming he was no longer the right man to lead either the Conservative party or the country.

Boris Johnson had only a few minutes earlier been forced into making a grovelling apology over the way he dealt with the scandal surrounding Chris Pincher. This came after Downing Street admitted that when he installed Pincher as deputy chief whip, he was already aware of the complaints against him.

This could signal the start of a spate of resignations and maybe even put Boris in the position of finally having to concede defeat after gripping on to power by the skin of his teeth in recent months.

“The tone you set as a leader, and the values you represent, reflect on your colleagues, your party and ultimately the country”, Javid wrote in his resignation letter. He continued: “Conservatives at their best are seen as hard-headed decision-makers guided by strong values. We may not always have been popular, but we have been competent in acting in the national interest”.

“Sadly, in the current circumstances, the public are concluding that we are now neither”, he concluded.

Piers Morgan tweeted immediately @piersmorgan, adding a copy of the Health Secretary’s letter to the PM.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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