Both Javid and Ashworth, who is also the shadow minister for Work and Pensions, were interviewed separately by the Sky News broadcaster following the publication on Sunday of an unauthorised biography of Johnson's wife Carrie, claiming that she is meddling in political decisions taken by the prime minister.
"Going after Carrie Johnson is undignified, it’s unfair and it’s just wrong", the health secretary in Johnson’s government said.
Asked if attacks on Carrie Johnson were appropriate, Ashworth replied: "No, it is not. I think it is sexist, misogynist".
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and his wife Carrie (R) arrive at the Manchester Central convention centre ahead of his keynote speech on the final day of the annual Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, northwest England, on October 6, 2021
© AFP 2023 / BEN STANSALL
The Labour lawmaker noted that it was Johnson who put himself forward to the British people and that his was the name on the ballot paper, not his wife's.
"Leave her alone", he stressed.
In a new book that was serialised in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday this weekend, former Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Ashcroft claimed his wife was preventing Johnson "from leading Britain as effectively as the voters deserve".
On Sunday evening, a spokesperson for Carrie Johnson said that she is the target of a "brutal briefing campaign" by "enemies of her husband" and that she was a private individual who plays no role in government.