FORMER Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid has been installed as Health Secretary to replace the disgraced Matt Hancock, with a remit to ‘open up’ British capitalism regardless of the deadly spread of the Delta Covid variant throughout the country.
Javid made his priority absolutely clear to journalists on his first day in the job when he told them that there will be ‘no going back’ and that he intends to see ‘the restrictions lifted and life going back to normal as quickly as possible. Right here and now that is my absolute priority. I want to see those restrictions lifted as soon as we can, as quickly as possible.’
Javid has made clear that he intends to fully remove all restrictions on 19th July regardless of any risk to workers’ lives.
According to the Tory Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland, Javid is a ‘political veteran’ who will bring a ‘fresh perspective’ to the Tories.
This fresh perspective is that of a former Treasury Minister and Chancellor – until he resigned following a row with Boris Johnson in February 2020.
During that time, Javid was the main architect of Tory austerity cuts that decimated the NHS and every other public service.
Before entering parliament, Javid was a major player in the global banking industry. He was appointed in 2006 as Head of Global Credit Trading in the giant Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank were right at the centre of the crisis that brought the world banks crashing down only to be rescued by government bail-outs paid for by vicious austerity cuts inflicted on the working class in the US, Britain and Europe.
Now Javid has been put in charge of the health service, and is responsible for forcing through re-opening to ‘save’ what is left of UK capitalism and to push through privatisation of the NHS – along with enforcing a derisory wage cutting 1% pay increase on the nurses. He joins, at the Tory top table, fellow ex-merchant banker Rishi Sunak, who replaced him as Chancellor.
What brought Hancock down was not the stench of corruption that hangs over the entire Tory government but the capitalist state intervening to force him out.
The fingerprints of the state were all over the secret cameras in his office to film his clinch with his aide.
Having ensured Hancock was forced out, the bankers’ man Javid has now been installed as part of the preparations by the state for an all-out austerity war against the working class.
Driving this crisis in the Tory party and its class war preparations is the fast developing confrontation with the working class.
This week, the furlough scheme starts to run down with government subsidy to the wages of furloughed workers reduced by 10%, before it ends completely on 30 September.
When furlough ends, millions of workers face mass unemployment and the most sustained and vicious austerity attacks from this Tory government.
Workers will not passively accept having their lives destroyed to keep the bankers and bosses in profit – and the capitalist class are fully aware of this.
Such austerity can only be imposed by a government prepared to use the full force of the capitalist state – its army, police and courts – to keep this powerful working class from the throats of the bankers and bosses.
They are also relying on the collaboration of the Labour and trade union leaders to keep a lid on strikes and demonstrations to keep this weak bankrupt capitalist system from being overthrown by an enraged working class.
The time has come for the working class to organise its own chiefs of staff to lead the war declared on it by a weak capitalist system.
This means building the revolutionary leadership of the WRP throughout the labour and trade union movement prepared to organise the strength of the working class in a general strike to bring down this Tory government and go forward to a workers’ government.
A workers’ government will expropriate the bosses and bankers, smash the capitalist state and advance to a socialist planned economy.
Join the WRP today and build the revolutionary leadership required – there is not a moment to lose.
