Sajid Javid says Britons are hard workers after leaked Liz Truss ‘graft’ remarks
The former health secretary Sajid Javid has distanced himself from comments made by Liz Truss in a leaked recording, in which she said British workers needed “more graft” and implied they lacked the skills of foreign workers.
When asked about the comments on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Javid said he did not know the context in which the comments were made, but he thought British workers were the most hardworking in the world.
Javid, who has backed Truss in the Conservative leadership race, said: “Well, I know what you’re referring to, but I don’t know the context in that comment when it was made. I think it was over a decade ago, but what I do recognise and I’ve long recognised as business secretary, as chancellor, in all the jobs I’ve had in government, is that governments need to do even more to improve our productivity.
“Now, when it comes to British workers, they’re the most hardworking in the world.”
In the recording, which was made while Truss was the chief secretary to the Treasury, a role she held between 2017 and 2019, Truss said: “If you look at productivity, it’s very, very different in London from the rest of the country. But basically … this has been a historical fact for decades. Essentially it’s partly a mindset and attitude thing, I think. It’s working culture, basically. If you go to China it’s quite different, I can assure you.”
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She said there was a “fundamental issue of British working culture”, and that if the country wanted to be “richer and more prosperous” then that would need to change.
“There’s a slight thing in Britain about wanting the easy answers,” she said. “That’s
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