Matt Hancock quit after he was caught embracing a senior aide in his office, in breach of the social distancing guidelines he helped to create.
The episode rebounded immediately on Johnson, who had initially fought to keep Hancock in his job and then faced criticism for being too weak to fire the minister.
Two hours after Hancock resigned, the premier tried to draw a line under the controversy by naming Sajid Javid, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, as the new U.K.
health secretary. Yet his choice of replacement is also potentially dangerous. Javid himself resigned during a face-to-face argument with Johnson when a cabinet reshuffle went wrong in February of 2020.