Sajid Javid Addresses Why He Didn’t Appear As Expected In The Media Yesterday
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Sajid Javid has spoken up about why he didn’t make any media appearances yesterday, December 8, as had been expected of him.
The Health Secretary had been expected to make a number of TV and radio appearances to mark the one year anniversary of the UK administering the first COVID-19 vaccine in the world, outside of a clinical setting.
However, after footage leaked showing Downing Street staff laughing about an alleged Christmas party held during last year’s tier 3 restrictions, Javid withdrew from interviews on Radio Four’s Today programme, BBC One, Sky, and Times Radio.
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Planned media appearances by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Environment Secretary George Eustice and Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup were also all pulled at the last minute.
Now, in an interview with Sky News, Javid explained why he made the decision to withdraw from interviews at such short notice.
Javid claimed, ‘I didn’t appear because I saw the video and it upset me,’ adding that the government had wanted ‘time to respond to the video’ and give Prime Minister Boris Johnson ‘space to react’.
He explained:
It upset me, it upset a lot of people across the country, it upset the prime minister. […] I spoke to my colleagues in Number 10, and we actually agreed that it’s best to have some time to respond to the video in the way that the prime minister has now, by ordering an investigation by the cabinet secretary.
Javid went on to say he was ‘pleased’ the PM had asked for an investigation into the matter, and said he could see ‘why so many people were upset by that video’.
The footage in question shows former spokesperson Allegra Stratton laughing about an alleged ‘[non] socially distanced’ gathering, which she in turn described as a ‘fictional party’, a ‘cheese and wine’ event, and later, a ‘business meeting’, remarking, ‘it was not socially distanced’.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Johnson ‘apologised unreservedly’ for the impression given by the video, which he says left him ‘sickened and furious’. Stratton has since resigned from her position as government advisor.
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