No 10 warns staff against ‘unacceptable’ briefings as Liz Truss aide ‘suspended’
Jason Stein, a special adviser to the Prime Minister, is reportedly facing an investigation by the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics Team.
A senior adviser to Liz Truss has been suspended as Downing Street ordered aides to stop “unacceptable” briefings against Tory MPs.
Jason Stein, a special adviser to the Prime Minister, is facing an investigation by the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics Team, according to reports.
It comes after a Downing Street source described Tory MP Sajid Javid as “shit” to a newspaper as they dismissed suggestions Ms Truss had considered the former health secretary to be her replacement chancellor.
The Prime Minister’s press secretary did not deny that Mr Stein had been suspended, saying: “I am not going to get into individual staffing matters.
“But the Prime Minister has made very clear to her team that some of the sort of briefings that we have seen are completely unacceptable about parliamentary colleagues and they must stop.”
Asked if Mr Stein had offered his resignation, the press secretary said: “That’s not my understanding.”
Mr Stein, who worked for the Duke of York ahead of Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight interview, has been approached for his response to the reports.
Over the weekend, the Sunday Times carried a report with a No 10 source dismissing claims that Ms Truss had considered former Cabinet minister Mr Javid as prospect to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor.
“The Prime Minister laughed out loud at the suggestion,” the source reportedly said.
“She has sat in the Cabinet with Javid for 10 years and she knows who is good and who is shit.”
Jeremy Hunt was ultimately appointed Chancellor and is tasked with shoring up Ms Truss’s premiership which has been embattled ever since the disastrous mini-budget overseen by her and Ms Kwarteng.
Mr Javid had been listed to pose Ms Truss a question in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon.
However, the suspension of Mr Stein was reported just before Prime Minister’s Questions kicked off, and Mr Javid did not use the opportunity.