Tory ministers are locking horns over Boris Johnson’s decision to move France into the “amber plus” travel list.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has been accused of scaring the Prime Minister into rolling out the measures on July 16.
The Government introduced an exemption for double-jabbed holidaymakers to avoid self-isolating at home for 10 days, once they returned from countries on the amber list.
But ministers removed the exemption for France amid concerns over the Beta variant, leaving millions quarantined for up to 10 days with both vaccinations.
It came as a surprise to some Tory MPs as research published the day the decision was made, showed a single dose of the Oxford AZ jab was 83 per cent effective at stopping hospitalisations caused by the South Africa Strain.
And the AZ jab was 88 per cent effective at tackling the delta variant.
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Mr Javid who as been reading the Department of Health for 29 days, was expected to take a less cautious approach than his predecessor Matt Hancock.
A source told the Mail on Sunday: “Saj frigteneng the PM to death Shapps was so p*****d off that the decision was taken without him being present.”
The source added: “The Department of Heatlh must now be feeling pretty “f*****g stupid after the backlash”.
The meeting on July 16 was the last time Mr Johnson, Mr Javid and the Chancellor met face to face before the Health Secretary tested positive for Coronavirus.
Their self-isolation came two days before Freedom Day.
Labour said an estimated 5,857,558 people face the prospect of last-minute quarantine requirements to protect against the spread of coronavirus after booking trips over the “summer of chaos”.
There has been speculation that Greece and Spain could face the same measures as France.
Labour’s shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: “Not only have they failed to protect our borders, allowing Covid cases to rocket – they also refuse to be straight with the public and give them the information they need to book travel with confidence, with clear information on the direction of travel of infections in each country.
“Families who have booked holidays in good faith now risk losing out – 10-day quarantine is simply not an option for many people who are already struggling financially thanks to the pandemic.”
