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UK's former finance minister Javid appointed as health minister

British former finance minister Sajid Javid will replace Matt Hancock as the country's health minister, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said on Saturday.

Reuters WORLD
Published June 26,2021
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Sajid Javid on Saturday was appointed Britain's new health secretary a short while after Matt Hancock resigned from the post.

Javid, the former chancellor of the exchequer and home secretary, replaced Hancock after the former health secretary breached coronavirus social distancing rules by engaging in intimate acts with his aide.

"The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care," a short press release from the government read.

Under No 10's timetable, which Hancock helped construct, intimate contact with people not within the same household was discouraged until May 17 as part of the 4-step process. However, CCTV footage revealed that Hancock had intimate interactions with his aide Gina Coladangelo on May 6, just over a week before the official opening of the next step.

In CCTV footage obtained by the Sun Online newspaper on Friday, Hancock can be seen looking out of his office before turning around and greeting Coladangelo. The pair then begin to hug and kiss.

Javid, who is an MP for the constituency of Bromsgrove in Birmingham, served as the home secretary from 2018 to 2019 and then as chancellor of the exchequer until he resigned from the government in February last year following a row with the prime minister.