Displaying items by tag: Sajid Javid

Tavistock Gender Clinic has significant failings and will be replaced, but former health secretary Sajid Javid is concerned that two staff involved in past failings will have key roles in the replacement service. A senior Tavistock clinician has been given a training job in the new service. Sajid said that appointment processes should be urgently reviewed. The Gender Identity and Development Service is the only NHS gender clinic for children and youths in England and Wales, providing assessments and referrals for puberty blockers or hormones when they are old enough. Currently young people identifying as trans do not have issues such as autism and mental health problems investigated. Sajid Javid said, ‘Individuals who oversaw significant failings at the Tavistock should clearly not be managing the set-up of the new system.’ Current health secretary Steve Barclay said the Government would ensure the new service was run according to the recommendations of the independent review.

The outgoing health secretary, Sajid Javid, has said that being at the National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast inspired him to quit his role. The Street Pastors founder Rev Les Isaac spoke about the responsibility that comes with leadership, to serve the interests of others above your own, and to seek common ground of your party, your community, and above all, your country. Sajid said, ‘It doesn't matter what your political perspective is, in this house. I believe that we are all motivated by the national interest, and that the public expects us all to maintain honesty and to maintain integrity in whatever we do. This is not an abstract matter.’ Rev Isaac said, ‘God gives His people the capacity to be compassionate, not living for themselves but for others, such as the weak and the poor, the marginalised, and those in distress.’

Sajid Javid has shocked Westminster by quitting as chancellor of the exchequer in the middle of Boris Johnson's cabinet reshuffle. He rejected the prime minister's order to fire his entire team of aides, saying no self-respecting minister could accept such a condition. He has been replaced as chancellor by chief secretary to the treasury Rishi Sunak - who just seven months ago was a junior housing minister. Mr Javid’s resignation follows rumours of tensions between him and the prime minister's senior adviser Dominic Cummings. He said his advisers had worked ‘incredibly hard’, and he could not agree to them being replaced. ‘I felt I was left with no option but to resign’, he said, adding that Mr Sunak and the rest of the government retained his ‘full support’. Downing Street said there would now be a joint team of economic advisers for both the chancellor and prime minister. For full details of Mr Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle, see

When Sajid Javid visited the Western Wall on 1 July, it was the first time a senior British government official had visited the holy site in 19 years. He grew up in a Muslim home, and said his father taught him the deep connection that both Jews and Muslims have to Jerusalem. The director of the Western Wall Foundation explained the wall's spiritual and historic significance to the Jewish people. Javid said he was very excited to be there, and could feel the spiritual power of the holy site. He recited Psalm 121 with a leading rabbi, and took time to place a note between the wall's stones. The rabbi said, ‘Your visit is evidence that it’s possible for Jews and Muslims to live together in this small place without harming one another.’ Javid agreed: ‘We love Jewish heritage very much and appreciate it.’ His wife, Laura, is a church-going Christian. See

Home secretary Sajid Javid is under increasing pressure to deal with the rising number of migrants crossing the Channel. As some MPs call on him to deploy the Royal Navy, he insists that there is ‘no easy answer’ to what he called a ‘major incident’ unfolding off the south coast. Over 220 people have attempted the crossing in small boats since November 2018. Many of them are university-educated Iranians or Syrians. People-smugglers tell migrants they must enter the UK before ‘borders shut properly’ after Brexit. One refugee group said that most of those trying to cross are Kurds: see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29702440 Kent Refugee Action Network said the Kurds could have genuine asylum claims, adding, ‘The Government needs to find a way to process their claims in France instead and then transfer them.’ Pray for UK and French authorities to share intelligence and work on a humane solution.

Home secretary Sajid Javid, after unveiling a new ID scheme for EU citizens living in Britain, has called on EU leaders to publish concrete plans to preserve the rights of British citizens living on the continent post-Brexit. He is concerned that other EU member states have not stated how they are going to support Britons in Europe, when the Government has advanced plans for a new status for the estimated 3.4 million EU citizens living in the UK. The European parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, said there were ‘serious concerns’ over all citizens impacted and affected by Brexit. ‘British in Europe’ complained last week that they represented the forgotten victims of Brexit, with neither Brussels nor London taking up their fight to retain their rights to maintain free movement and continue to work freely and offer services across the continent. The ‘right of return’ to the UK without any immigration barriers was also raised.

A crisis Cabinet meeting failed to back Theresa May's plan for a ‘customs partnership’ with Brussels. Key Brexit sub-committee members tried to thrash out a model for the UK's future trade links with Brussels in two hours of tense discussions that ended in deadlock. Insiders said that Sajid Javid had been instrumental in rejecting her plan. Mrs May ordered ministers and officials to carry out ‘further work’ on two options and return with revised proposals at a later date. Whitehall sources reported that six ministers oppose her option and want a looser customs arrangement with Brussels. Boris Johnson urged Mrs May to stick to the principles of her keynote speech at the Mansion House earlier this year which clearly stated that Britain would not form any customs union with the EU after Brexit. International trade secretary Liam Fox said the customs partnership was ‘not compatible’ with Brexit.