Sajid Javid: Ex-health secretary issues warning over NHS as he admits odds stacked against Tories at next election
Former health secretary Sajid Javid has warned that the NHS “won’t survive many more years” without “fundamental reforms”, urging the country to have an “honest debate” about the service.
In his only broadcast interview since announcing he would stand down at the next general election, the MP told the Beth Rigby Interviews programme that tackling the NHS was his unfinished business in politics.
And he admitted the Conservatives faced a “tough” battle to stay in power at the general election, adding: “The odds are stacked against us.”
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Mr Javid ran the Department of Health between June 2021 and July 2022, having replaced Matt Hancock after his resignation for breaking COVID guidance.
But he quit himself over the summer, having lost confidence in the then-prime minister Boris Johnson – leading to a wave of resignations that ultimately resulted in the leader’s downfall.
Speaking to Beth Rigby, Mr Javid said he would have “liked to have more time” as health secretary to look at the reforms he believes it so desperately needs.
“I don’t think the model of the NHS as it was set up some 70 years ago is sustainable for the future,” he said.
“You know that the world has changed and the NHS has not moved on with that.”
Read more: New-found freedom allows Javid to talk honestly about NHS big picture – Beth Rigby analysis
The ex-minister said “a starting point” for reform would be to look at the universal health care systems in other large European countries.
He added: “If you speak to any German you might know or French person, Italian, they have good health care systems that were also challenged by the pandemic, but they seem to all be doing better than we are.
“They are mostly funded by the taxpayer but they also have some different models.”
Sajid Javid was health secretary for just over a year, but told Beth Rigby he would have liked more time in the role
Mr Javid would not go as far to say he backed a particular model, like health insurance or those who can paying more for their care, but he welcomed “having that kind of discussion, because we need to have this honest debate as a country”.
“The moment a politician of any party says something that is obviously correct about the NHS and the challenges it faces, someone else will just jump down their throat and turn it into something else, you know, turn into the big negative,” he added.
“We all want the NHS to be there. I rely on the NHS, my family, all our loved ones, your loved ones, your viewers.
“The pressures are so immense, and the pandemic has made it doubly so, that if we as a country, if we neglect this debate now, I am afraid in my opinion after the experience I’ve had I don’t think the NHS will survive many more years on what it says on paper it has to deliver unless we start making fundamental reforms.”
‘Odds are stacked against us’
In a wide-ranging interview, the former cabinet minister also reflected on how recent political turmoil had hurt the Conservatives.
He said external issues like the war in Ukraine and the pandemic would be challenging for any government to come through.
But he also pointed to the revelations over COVID lockdown parties in Number 10, saying: “The rules were broken in Downing Street and people didn’t like that, and rightly they didn’t like that, and it hurt Boris Johnson in particular but it hurt the government at the time”.
Sajid Javid was the first minister to resign in a wave of exits that led to the downfall of Boris Johnson
“If you look at the current polling it is obvious the odds are stacked against us,” added Mr Javid. ” I think anyone would admit that, it looks tough.”
However, despite not initially backing Rishi Sunak to replace Mr Johnson – instead getting behind Liz Truss – he said Mr Sunak offered the Tories the best chance at the ballot box.
“We’ve got a fantastic prime minister in place that really gets it, is one of the smartest people, one of the most capable I have ever come across,” said Mr Javid.
“We’ve now come out with the right result and amongst all Conservative MPs we have the best possible leader we could have right now.
“[At the next election] it will be a choice between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, and I think when the country is presented with that choice, people will come to the conclusion that Rishi Sunak is the right person to take us forward.”
‘Truss wasn’t up to the job’
So why did he back Ms Truss first time round?
The former chancellor said he wanted to see tax cuts, but claimed “what she actually did and how she did it were very different” to what he expected.
“I think it was obvious right from the start really she wasn’t going to be up to the job,” he said.
“The biggest challenge was the economy and if you look back… in the run up to that mini-budget the sort of fighting that was going on behind the scenes with the Bank of England I think was completely wrong.”
Sajid Javid served alongside Liz Truss in Boris Johnson’s cabinet, but tells Beth Rigby it was a ‘mistake’ to back her in the leadership contest
Mr Javid also said it was “completely wrong” to sideline the Office for Budget Responsibility when it came to her economic plans, and to fire the permanent secretary to the Treasury as soon as she took office.
“This was the gentleman, Sir Tom Scholar, who had been serving the government for three decades,” he added.
“He was my permanent secretary, he is one of the best civil servants we have in this country, and I think just treating someone like that in that way was unacceptable.
“And that is before the mini-budget and then it just got worse and worse at that point. So I think it is something that was a very bad period for our country.”
But the MP said: “I don’t think that that period, that six-week period, is going to cost us the election.”
‘A personal toll’
Asked about why he was standing down at the next election, Mr Javid told Beth Rigby “there comes a time for everyone to move on”.
But, he added: “It feels like in the last decade that politics has been on some kind of fast forward, one crises after another, one international challenge after another.
“Politicians, I think cross-party, are trying their best in that but it does take a personal toll on you as well, as me as an individual, but of course also on my family.”
Watch Beth Rigby Interviews with Sajid Javid at 9pm tonight on Sky News.
Over 1,400 people have been killed and at least 3,250 others injured after an earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, according to the Afghan Red Crescent Society.
The quake hit the country’s rugged northeastern province of Kunar, near the Pakistan border, at roughly midnight on Sunday, destroying several villages, officials said.
Rescuers were trying to reach isolated villages in the mountainous province where the quake hit, with the provincial head of disaster management, Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying: “We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be trapped under the rubble. Our effort is to complete these operations as soon as possible and to begin distributing aid to the affected families.”
Here’s what we know so far.
Local residents walk by a house destroyed by the earthquake in Mazar Dara, Kunar province. Pic: AP
Number of casualties high and area difficult to access, officials say
Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s ministry of public health, said: “Rescue operations are still underway there, and several villages have been completely destroyed.
“The figures for martyrs and injured are changing. Medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area.”
He said many areas have not been able to report casualty figures and “numbers were expected to change” as deaths and injuries are reported.
Thousands of children were at risk in the aftermath of the quake, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned on Tuesday.
UNICEF said it was sending medicines, warm clothing, tents and tarpaulins for shelter, as well as hygiene items such as soap, detergent, towels, sanitary pads and water buckets.
Taliban soldiers were also deployed to the area to provide help and security, the government said.
Rescue teams and authorities were trying to dispose of animal carcasses quickly to minimise the risk of contamination to water resources, a UN official said.
“Damaged roads, ongoing aftershocks, and remote locations of many villages severely impede the delivery of aid,” the World Health Organisation said. It added that over 12,000 people had been affected by the quake.
“The pre-earthquake fragility of the health system means local capacity is overwhelmed, creating total dependence on external actors,” it said.
The large red circle shows the earthquake near Kabul. Pic: German Research Centre for Geosciences
According to earlier reports, 30 people were killed in a single village, the health ministry said.
“The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site,” said health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman.
The Afghan Red Crescent said its officials and medical teams “rushed to the affected areas and are currently providing emergency assistance to impacted families”.
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‘Multiplicity of crises’ for Afghans
The impact of aid cuts
Afghanistan has been badly affected by Donald Trump’s decision in January to cut funding to USAID and reduce funding for other foreign aid programmes.
The UK has allocated £1m to support the UN and the International Red Cross in delivering critical healthcare and emergency supplies to affected Afghans.
China has said it is ready to provide disaster relief, while India delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and was moving 15 tonnes of food supplies to Kunar.
An impoverished country where quakes are always a threat
Earthquakes represent a constant danger in Afghanistan, a country that sits across three geological faultlines.
But the people of this impoverished nation are also vulnerable in a number of other ways.
Since the Taliban regained control in 2021, the international community has withdrawn much of the financial support, which formed the bulk of government spending in Afghanistan.
Even humanitarian aid, which generally bypasses government institutions, has shrunk substantially – from $3.8bn (£2.8bn) in 2022 to $767m (£566m) this year.
The US government, through its international development arm USAID, provided 45% of all assistance granted to Afghanistan last year, but those sums have been slashed by the Trump administration.
The UK, along with France, Germany, Sweden, and others, has also made deep cuts to humanitarian aid.
As a consequence, hundreds of hospitals and local health clinics in the country have been shut this year and related medical posts have been lost.
This funding crisis comes as the country tries to absorb millions of people who fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took power.
More than two million in fact, have come back this year, with Pakistan and Iran taking measures to force their return.
On arrival, they discover a country where more than half the population requires urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, with millions suffering from acute food insecurity.
Large parts of northern Afghanistan are suffering a lengthy drought.
Destructive earthquakes are an unfortunate fact of life in the country.
This most recent rupture near the city of Jalalabad represents the third major quake in the past four years.
But the catastrophe is compounded in a nation that ranks as one of the poorest – and most desperate – on Earth.
What happened?
A 6.0 quake hit Kunar at around 11.47pm local time (8.17pm UK time) on Sunday.
The quake’s epicentre was near Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, at a depth of just five miles (8km). Shallower quakes such as these tend to cause more damage.
Jalalabad is situated about 74 miles (119km) from Kabul. It is considered a remote and mountainous area.
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Afghanistan particularly vulnerable to earthquakes – expert
A second earthquake struck in the same province about 20 minutes later, with a magnitude of 4.5 and a depth of 6.2 miles (10km). This was later followed by a 5.2 earthquake at the same depth.
Homes of mud and stone were levelled by the quake, with deaths and injuries reported in the districts of Nur Gul, Soki, Watpur, Manogi and Chapadare, according to the Kunar Disaster Management Authority.
Ambulances prepare to receive victims of an earthquake. Pic: Nangarhar Media Centre/AP
The first quake hit 17 miles east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the US Geological Survey said. Jalalabad is a bustling trade city due to its proximity to a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It has a population of around 300,000 people, according to the municipality, but its metropolitan area is believed to be much larger.
Most of its buildings are low-rise constructions predominantly made from concrete and brick, though its outer areas include homes built of mud bricks and wood.
People carry an earthquake victim on a stretcher to an ambulance at an airport in Jalalabad. Pic: Reuters
Quake measures slightly lower than the country’s deadliest disaster
Afghanistan is prone to earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
The country is also one of the world’s poorest, having suffered decades of conflict, with poor infrastructure leaving it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake and strong aftershocks struck Afghanistan on 7 October 2023.
Afghans donate blood for quake victims. Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health/AP
The country’s Taliban government said at least 4,000 people had been killed, but the United Nations said the number of people killed was around 1,500.
The 2023 earthquake is considered the deadliest natural disaster to hit Afghanistan in recent memory.
A series of other earthquakes in the country’s west killed more than 1,000 people last year.
Humanitarian officials and locals said many villages are still recovering and living in temporary structures after the previous disasters.
Aid distribution. Pic: Bakhtar News Agency
Disaster adds to ‘perfect storm of problems’ for Afghanistan
The earthquake is a “perfect storm” in a country that is already suffering a “multiplicity of crises,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has told Sky News.
Filippo Grandi said the situation in the country was “very tragic” and added: “We have very little information as of yet, but already, reports of hundreds of people killed and many more made homeless.”
Afghanistan already has finite resources, as it is one of the world’s poorest countries and is also war-torn, having been taken over by the Taliban in 2021 when foreign forces withdrew after years of fighting.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The withdrawal triggered a cut to the international funding that formed the bulk of government finances in Afghanistan.
Humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $767m (£567m) this year, down from $3.8bn (£2.08bn) in 2022, according to Reuters, yet the United Nations estimates more than half the population is in urgent need of aid.
Mr Grandi said Afghanistan is also suffering from a “big drought”, while Iran has “sent back almost 2 million people” and Pakistan “threatens to do the same”.
“It’s extremely difficult to mobilise resources because of the Taliban. So it’s a perfect storm,” he added. “And this earthquake, likely to have been quite devastating, is going to just add to the misery.”
He appealed to “all those who can help to please do that”.
Emergency relief hampered by lack of women’s rights, charity warns
Diplomats and aid officials say crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban’s policies towards women, have spurred the cuts in funding.
Oxfam’s chief executive Halima Begum told Sky News: “Emergency relief in Afghanistan, either over the long term or even during this emergency, is a really difficult process because women’s rights are not upheld very well in this country.”
She said providing aid “presents a very difficult and complex challenge for us” and the charity had to pull out of the country “for reasons to do with operational difficulty”.
Oxfam is working through partner agencies such as the British Red Cross, “trying to figure out how best we can get support to what you can see are very difficult, mountainous regions”, she said.
She added: “All of the NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and charities will be getting together, figuring out who is present there.
“And of course, there’s an ongoing conversation and monitoring with the Disasters Emergency Committee to just see where the death toll goes and what that response level should be.”
“So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a spokesperson of Afghanistan’s foreign office said.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said the country was ready to provide disaster relief assistance “according to Afghanistan’s needs and within its capacity”.
In a post on X, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said its mission in Afghanistan was preparing to help those in areas devastated by the quake.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in Beijing to meet with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, ahead of one of the largest military parades ever staged.
It is the first time in his 14-year rule that Mr Kim has joined a multilateral event, and it is the first time all three leaders have met, with commentators saying the visit is designed to demonstrate trilateral solidarity against the United States.
According to the Associated Press, Mr Kim, who does not like to fly, took his trademark green armoured train to Beijing, but stopped first en route to check progress on a North Korean missile research institute developing a new engine for a “next-generation” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The North in recent years has tested various versions of ICBMs capable of reaching the US mainland, and analysts say the next-generation ICBM likely refers to a long-range weapon with multiple nuclear warheads that can penetrate US missile defence systems.
Follow the latest on the Beijing summit
The motorcade believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un leaves Beijing railway station
While none of the three countries have confirmed a private trilateral leaders’ meeting in Beijing, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russia’s TASS news agency a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Mr Kim on the sidelines was “under consideration”.
Earlier, Chinese leader Xi Jinping had welcomed the Russian President as an “old friend” before the two began a series of meetings.
In turn, Mr Putin addressed Mr Xi as his “dear friend” and said Moscow’s ties with Beijing were “at an unprecedentedly high level”.
Putin and Xi take a walk at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing
Today is the third of four days in which China’s president is hosting world leaders.
It began with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit on Sunday and will end with the major military parade tomorrow that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and China’s fight against Japan’s wartime aggression.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Mr Kim may stand alongside Mr Xi and Mr Putin on the rostrum at Tiananmen Square during Wednesday’s parade.
It also anticipates he will hold bilateral meetings with the Chinese and Russian leaders and interact with other heads of state at a reception and cultural performance as he seeks to break out of isolation and expand his diplomatic relations.
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Tens of thousands of Chinese troops are expected to take part in the parade
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North Korea’s foreign policy priority has been Russia in recent years, as it has been supplying troops and ammunition to support Russia’s war against Ukraine in exchange for economic and military assistance.
According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia.
North Korea’s relations with China have reportedly turned sour in recent years, but experts say Mr Kim likely hopes to restore ties as China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, and he would want to brace for the end of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Belgian government has said it will officially recognise the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly this month.
The country’s foreign minister, Maxime Prevot, announced it will join the UK, France, Canada, and Australia in recognising a Palestinian state.
Belgium will also introduce “firm sanctions” against the Israeli government, he said, including a ban on imports from West Bank settlements and possible judicial prosecutions.
The Israeli foreign ministry and its Belgian embassy have not yet commented on the announcement.
However, its foreign ministry previously said the UK’s plan to recognise Palestine “constitutes a reward for Hamas”.
Read more: What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?
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Would a two-state solution work?
Sir Keir Starmer announced in July that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel meets certain conditions, those being:
• Israel takes substantive steps to end the “appalling situation in Gaza“
• Israel agrees to a ceasefire
• Israel commits to a long-term sustainable peace – reviving the prospect of a two-state solution
• Israel must allow the UN to restart the supply of aid
• There must be no annexations in the West Bank
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PM on recognising Palestine as a state
In response, the Israeli foreign ministry said: “The shift in the British government’s position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages.”
The UN General Assembly session in New York will begin on 9 September. Ireland, Spain, and Norway all officially recognised a Palestinian state last year.
Out of the 193 United Nations member states, 147 already recognise Palestine as a state as of March 2025.
Earlier this month, Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich announced plans to build a new settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which he said would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.
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Israeli minister’s plan to ‘bury idea of Palestinian state’
It comes after US secretary of state Marco Rubio revoked the visas of 81 delegates from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – blocking them from attending the general assembly.
Under a 1947 UN agreement, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York.
But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
Read more from Sky News:
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The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza is now more than 63,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
It added that nine more people, including three children, died of malnutrition and starvation over Monday, raising deaths from such causes to at least 348, including 127 children.
The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.
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