ONE of Liz Truss’s key advisers previously worked under Prince Andrew.
Jason Stein left his role at the side of the late Queen’s second son just ahead of his infamous interview with Emily Maitlis.
Speaking to the now-former BBC host in 2019, Andrew addressed his relationship with the late paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his sex trafficer partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
The royal claimed that accusations of sexual harassment levelled against him were untrue as he could not sweat and had been at a Pizza Express in Woking at the time key events were supposed to have taken place.
In 2020, Stein told Politics Home that he left the role working for the royal by “mutual consent” two weeks before that Newsnight appearance.
Any mention of the role working with Andrew is conspicuous in its absence from the political adviser’s LinkedIn page.
However, Stein had worked for Truss before the royal. Reports credit the now Prime Minister with having convinced him to leave his apolitical role as a Whitehall press officer and work for her during her time as chief secretary to the Treasury.
While Stein's affiliation to Andrew has been reported previously, including by The National, it came into renewed focus following a disastrous round of local radio interviews conducted by Truss on Thursday morning.
Joking about the car crash nature of the appearances, which saw Truss stumble on basic facts about topics such as fracking and energy bills, former LibDem leader Tim Farron wrote on Twitter: "Well, that was interesting start to the morning. It would appear that Prince Andrew’s media advisors have moved on to number 10."
Well, that was interesting start to the morning. It would appear that Prince Andrew’s media advisors have moved on to number 10.
— Tim Farron (@timfarron) September 29, 2022
Stein also previously worked as a spokesperson for Tory MP David Gauke, a former secretary of state for work and pensions, and for the Conservative MP Amber Rudd during her time at the head of the same department.
He worked as a media adviser for Jeremy Hunt during his unsuccessful Conservative leadership bid in 2019, and also worked as part of the team behind the successful “Liz for Leader” campaign over the summer of 2022.
Politico reported that it was Stein who had been credited with “turning around Truss’s initially wooden presentational skills”, although one source on rival Rishi Sunak’s campaign team described him as a “Grade A bullshitter”.
Speaking to Politics Home in 2020, Stein said he had “sympathy” for Dominic Cummings – Boris Johnson’s former top adviser – when he became the focus of national media after flouting Covid rules and driving hundreds of miles during lockdown.
“As someone who has very much become the story before, I have sympathy for Dom in that particular respect,” Stein said. “It's not especially fun but it can be an occupational hazard and it is sometimes unavoidable. Increasingly advisers are becoming more and more interesting to people."
