British finance minister, a friend of Israel, quits in reshuffle

Britain’s finance minister, Sajid Javid, resigns just weeks after Brexit and a month before he was due to deliver the government’s annual budget.

Javid’s spokesman confirms he will be leaving just as Prime Minister Boris Johnson carries out the first reshuffle of his cabinet since winning a parliamentary majority in December’s election.

Javid had been widely expected to keep his job in the cabinet shakeup.

Javid, a Muslim who is considered one of Israel’s strongest supporters in the British government, made a rare visit last year by a foreign dignitary to Jerusalem’s Western Wall and Temple Mount during a three-day visit to Israel and the West Bank. He also met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He has been a member of Conservative Friends of Israel since 2012, and has long campaigned against the BDS movement.

— with agencies