Exclusive: ‘Under Boris, the tail has been wagging the dog way too much’, says Charlie Mullins
Discussing new health secretary Sajid Javid with London’s best-known plumber, entrepreneur Charlie Mullins, it becomes instantly clear that the founder of Pimlico Plumbers is a big fan.
“In 2020, Sajid Javid chose to quit as Chancellor and walk out of Number 11 rather than bow down to Dominic Cummings and the Prime Minister and sack all his advisors,” Mullins said.
“Now that is the type of politician we need in the top health job. Someone who will tell the truth no matter how inconvenient it might be,” he told City PM today.
Sajid Javid
The former Chancellor and Home Secretary replaced Matt Hancock as Health Secretary last weekend, after a video had emerged of Hancock kissing an aide in his ministerial office in a breach of coronavirus restrictions.
“In a world full of pathological liars who trade in half-truths and weasel words, Sajid is a straight talker whose reputation and status is all the more impressive for walking away from the second most important role in government,” said Mullins, who is said to be in talks to sell off part of his company, in a move that could value the business at £100m.
“Boris, now free from the tumour that was Cummings, is prepared to eat humble pie and bring him back to the epicentre of his administration, also says a lot for the respect Javid commands from colleagues and enemies alike,” he continued.
Mullins shared that he had met and worked with Javid after the 2015 General Election, when he was Business Secretary, and “unlike Matt Hancock, I can assure you Sajid will not be a passenger or hostage as Health Secretary, which bodes well for all of us.”
“Under Boris, the tail has been wagging the dog way too much. If you take a look at all sorts of crucial decisions relating to the economy, instead of leading, Number 10 has let events unfold and put the onus on businesses and the public to make the hard decisions for it. Things like getting people back to the office and getting international travel moving again for example.”
Covid policy
Mullins added that: “Instead of having the bollocks to make a call and tell people it’s time to return to old ways, this government has shown zero leadership, while issuing contradicting and confusing Covid safety messages.”
“As a result, half the country has returned to their offices, despite the official line being to work from home ‘if you can’, while the other half are in open revolt about ever turning up again.”
According to the London-born entrepreneur, the same goes for international travel, be it for business or much needed holidays.
“Messing about with a traffic light system that makes others view us a bunch of incompetents, with genuine choices very thin on the ground, even though most of southern Europe is desperate for a return of British tourists,” Mullins said.
“It would also be nice if someone would kindly admit that all the bollocks about people having Covid with no symptoms is just that. We have done more than 10,000 lateral flow tests at Pimlico and not a single positive test has been produced by someone who didn’t feel unwell,” he concluded.