Javid’s jabs at PM
Ex-minister claims ‘the problem starts at the top’ in brutal Commons speech
SAJID Javid delivered a brutal parting shot at Boris Johnson yesterday, saying ‘the problem starts at the top’ and is not going to change.
In a blistering personal speech to the Commons, the ex-health secretary said he had concluded that ‘enough is enough’.
His speech was reminiscent of Geoffrey Howe’s devastating resignation statement in 1990 which helped topple Margaret Thatcher.
The Prime Minister sat in stony silence as Mr Javid issued the barbed condemnation from a few rows behind – and then hastily left the chamber when it ended.
Mr Javid told MPs he feared the Government’s ‘ reset button’ was no longer working. He said: ‘There’s only so many times you can turn that machine on and off before you realise that something is fundamentally wrong.
‘Last month I gave the benefit of doubt one last time... I have concluded that the problem starts at the top and I believe that is not going to change and that means that it is for those of us in a position who have responsibility to make that change.’ Mr Javid was the first minister to quit on Tuesday as Mr Johnson was giving a statement apologising for the row over Chris Pincher, who quit as deputy chief whip last week after allegedly drunkenly assaulting two men. Since then, more than 40 ministers and aides have quit – and the Prime Minister is fighting for his political life.
The ex-minister, who served as Chancellor under Mr Johnson but resigned in February 2020 over an order to fire his team of aides, insisted he is ‘not one of life’s quitters’. He added: ‘Treading the tightrope between loyalty and integrity has become impossible in recent months. I will never risk losing my integrity.
‘I also believe a team is as good as its team captain and a captain is as good as his or her team. So, loyalty must go both ways.
‘The events of recent months have made it increasingly difficult to be in that team. It’s not fair on ministerial colleagues to go out every morning defending lines that don’t stand up and don’t hold up.
‘It’s not fair on my parliamentary colleagues, who bear the brunt of constituents’ dismay in their inboxes and on the doorsteps in recent elections. And it’s not fair on Conservative members and voters who rightly expect better standards from the party they supported.’
Mr Javid said he was ‘personally assured at the most senior level’ of Mr Johnson’s team there had been ‘no parties in Downing Street and no rules were broken’ when the stories emerged last year.
Referring to the Pincher row, he added: ‘This week again, we have reason to question the truth and integrity of what we’ve all been told. And at some point we have to conclude that enough is enough. I believe that point is now.’