36 2GM Saturday June 11 2022 | the timesNewsThe Saturday interview
values of 1948 but looking at delivery
towards 2048,” he argues, citing the
need for better leadership, smarter
use of data and rethinking GP
services and more services provided
via the NHS app.
“It is absolutely possible to drive
change and reform in the NHS —
and we have to, it’s not a choice,” he
insists. “The NHS this year, its budget
is bigger than the GDP of Greece. We
estimate by the end of this parliament
it will account for more than 40 per
cent of day to day government
spending.”G
iven the scale of NHS
expenditure, does Javid
think its budget should be
reduced? “No. The
question then would really
be what would you cut? And I don’t
want to see important health services
cut,” he says. “What you can certainly
do is reduce the growth of NHS
spending and deliver more at the
same time.”
The scale of challenge is vast.
Almost 6.4 million people are on
NHS waiting lists and tens of
thousands every month are stuck in
A&E for more than 12 hours. Labour
sees this as an election-winning issue.
Javid does not seek to hide the
problem, but believes that voters will
give the government the benefit of
the post-pandemic doubt.
“I’ve been very honest — waiting
lists will keep rising before they fall.
People appreciate honesty. They want
ministers to be frank and treat themSajid Javid, the health secretary, enjoys‘Was I disappointed about the goings
The Tories must be bold and radical to overcome
the turbulence of recent months, the health
secretary tells Chris Smyth and Steven Swinford
I
t is an unlikely confession for a
health secretary. “I have the
occasional cigar, I have a burger
now and again. I like it and I
enjoy it and there’s nothing
wrong with it,” Sajid Javid says. The
idea of a kale smoothie appals him. “I
don’t think I’d touch one.”
Javid argues that the state’s role isto provide people with the
information to make informed
choices — less nanny state, more
education. He is not unsympathetic to
comments by John Reid, a Labour
health secretary who defended
people’s right to smoke by suggesting
it might be the only pleasure for a
single mother on a council estate.“People will decide rightly for
themselves, whether they’re going to
smoke and drink, they’re going to
want to eat fatty foods, but people
also will expect the state to warn
them of the risks,” he says. “People
value information on healthy
lifestyles — it’s about moderation.”
Javid, 52, says he does a 10km run
every week and also, perhaps
unsurprisingly as a former City
banker, owns a high-end Peloton
exercise bike, a hobby he shares with
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor. Unlike
Sunak, who enjoys intense BritneySpears-themed workouts, Javid
eschews colourful instructors while
he is on the bike. “I normally do a 30-
minute cycle, just a straightforward
[high-intensity] cycle.”
Javid’s views on exercise and an
individual’s right to indulge vices —
albeit in moderation — is in keeping
with his political philosophy. He
prides himself on being a Thatcherite,
perhaps the ultimate Thatcherite in
the cabinet, a living example of the
path from relative poverty to wealth.
His story is remarkable. The child
of a Pakistani immigrant who came to
Britain with £1 in his pocket, he grew
up in a flat above a shop in Bristol
with his four brothers. He went to
Exeter University and had a career in
the City before entering politics in
2010 as the MP for Bromsgrove. He
has run six government departments
— although all for less than two years
— and was chancellor before standing
down after a row with Dominic
Cummings, who was the prime
minister’s senior adviser.
In June last year he returned to the
fold as health secretary. Matt
Hancock, his predecessor, quit after
CCTV video from his office was
leaked of him embracing Gina
Coladangelo, an old friend and long-
term adviser. In one of his first acts,
Javid had the CCTV removed.
Although health was not his preferred
role — he is said to covet the Foreign
Office — he insists it is the “most
rewarding” job he has had in
government because of the numbers
that he can help.
He says that his mother joked: “I
always wanted one of my sons to be a
doctor, it’s not quite the same, but at
least you’re working in healthcare.”
The most prominent of his
brothers, Bas, is now a deputy
assistant commissioner in the
Metropolitan police, and Javid says
his siblings are not shy of ribbing him
about his public appearances. “I get
banter all the time. We’ve got a
brothers Whatsapp group, and it’s
also got a couple of cousins on there
and I think if I showed it to you you’d
be shocked. It’s a lot of poking fun
and I’m probably top of the list.”
Though he does not criticise his
more privileged Cabinet colleagues,
he argues that his tough background
helps him understand people’s
struggles with the cost of living. “I
know what it’s like when you don’t
have enough money to do quite basic
things,” he says. “I am a product of
public services in this country — the
schools I went to, the medical help
when I needed it, going to the local
library: I’m proud of public services.
Without that, obviously I wouldn’t be
where I am today. I relied so much on
public services, let’s say more than a
wealthier family would. I absolutely
understand the importance of it to
families and actually it’s the reason I
came into politics.”
Javid’s role, however, presents
contradictions. He is a small-state
Tory overseeing a department with a
£170 billion budget; a low-tax
conservative who backed a
2.5 percentage point national
insurance rise to address Covid
backlogs and social care. He insists
that the NHS will not receive any
more money. “The NHS now has
locked in the resources it needs. It
doesn’t need any more money. What it
needs to deliver for more people is not
money: It needs reform.”
Likening the health service to the
defunct video store Blockbuster, he
says that to carry on delivering care
free at the point of use, it has to be
drastically rethought. “You want to
have a system that, yes, it’s got the