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Sajid Javid has wished Prime Minister Boris Johnson a “happy Valentine’s Day” following his shock resignation as chancellor .
Leaving his south-west London home on Friday morning, Mr Javid was asked by reporters if he had a message for Mr Johnson.
As he walked towards his ministerial car, he answered: “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Mr Javid quit as chancellor on Thursday after Boris Johnson ordered Mr Javid to fire his closest aides and replace them with advisers chosen by Number 10 if he wanted to remain in post.
The former chancellor chose to quit instead and was replaced by his former deputy at the Treasury, Rishi Sunak, in the biggest shock of Mr Johnson’s shake-up of his ministerial team.
Speaking outside his home on Thursday, Mr Javid told reporters: “I was unable to accept those conditions and I do not believe any self-respecting minister would accept those conditions.”
And in his resignation letter, he told Mr Johnson he believed it was “important as leaders to have trusted teams that reflect the character and integrity that you would wish to be associated with”.
The bombshell – less than a month before the Budget – follows tensions between the ex-chancellor and the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
In August, Mr Cummings had fired Mr Javid’s aide Sonia Khan and it appears Number 10 wanted to go further in keeping a closer eye on him.
Downing Street refused to guarantee that next month’s Budget would go ahead as scheduled, with a spokesman saying only that “extensive preparations have already been carried out for the Budget and they will continue at pace”.
