SAJID JAVID faced a protest by hundreds of steel workers yesterday as he belatedly visited Port Talbot in a bid to regain control of a crisis threatening 40,000 jobs.

The Tory minister went “missing in action” this week, taking his teenage daughter on an official jaunt to Australia despite the uncertainty facing the crucial industry.

While Mr Javid was catching the sun on Wednesday, Tata Steel announced plans to sell its British operations.

Forced to cut short his jolly down under, he finally arrived back in Britain on Thursday night to calls for his resignation from Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock.

A fleet of black ministerial cars carrying multimillionair Mr Javid and his entourage of political advisers swept into south Wales yesterday morning for a string of crisis talks.

He was met by hundreds of workers wearing hardhats or yellow and blue company overalls who held a huge Community union banner saying: Save Our Steel. Mr Javid met some of the plant’s 4,000 staff, along with union reps, management, local MPs and Welsh government ministers. He insisted yesterday that he was “working hard” to secure a future for the industry and announced the government had appointed advisers to help find a new buyer.

Community general secretary Roy Rickhuss said the long-awaited visit was “promising” for a turnaround to the government’s laissez-faire approach to the industry so far.

But he criticised “false claims” from the Tory minister that they had taken decisive action to save British steel.

“This is quite clearly not the case when they are ring-leading opposition to Europe imposing higher tariffs on unfairly traded steel,” he stormed.

Unite Wales secretary Andy Richards said the work force needed “concrete solutions” to the crisis from Mr Javid rather than “tea and sympathy.”

Mr Javid was also savaged by UK Steel director Gareth Stace, who said: “The government needed to fully and swiftly address the emergency actions months ago.”

Calls grew last night for the government to bring the industry into public ownership, at least until a buyer is found.

“The Tories are treating nationalisation like it’s a politically incorrect swear word when it is the only course of action currently available to us,” said TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes.