Dominic Cummings appears to have reignited his feud with former chancellor-turned health secretary Sajid Javid, branding him an “awful” choice to replace Matt Hancock.
Mr Javid was appointed health secretary around 90 minutes after Mr Hancock announced his resignation on Saturday after it came to light that he had broken social distancing guidelines by kissing an aide while on the job.
In a statement, Mr Javid said he was “honoured” to take up the role, which comes following his short stint as chancellor from 2019-2020 before he quit after a power struggle with No 10 – and in particular, with Mr Cummings.
The former chancellor had resigned from his role after being told he had to sack all his advisers if he wanted to keep his job.
While some welcomed Mr Javid’s return to Boris Johnson’s cabinet, with former health secretary Jeremy Hunt calling the ex-chancellor an “excellent choice” for the role, Mr Cummings was less impressed by the appointment.
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Responding to the news, Mr Cummings suggested in a tweet that the prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson, was responsible for getting Mr Javid back on the frontbench.
He also appeared to imply that he had intentionally pushed the prime minister to force Mr Javid out from his past role as chancellor.
“So Carrie appoints Saj! NB If I hadn’t tricked PM into firing Saj, we’d have had a [HM Treasury] with useless SoS/spads, no furlough scheme, total chaos instead of JOINT 10/11 team which was a big success,” Mr Cummings tweeted.
“Saj = bog standard = chasing headlines + failing = awful for NHS” Mr Cummings said, before adding “need #RegimeChange”.
In Mr Javid’s statement announcing that he had been asked to serve as health secretary, he said he looks “forward to contributing to our fight against the pandemic, and serving my country from the cabinet once again”.
The Independent has contacted No 10 for comment.
