Jason Stein, one of Liz Truss’s key advisers, is understood to have been suspended from his job before an investigation into insulting briefings about MPs, including one over the weekend accusing Sajid Javid of being “shit”.
Truss’s press secretary, answering queries after prime minister’s questions, said he could not comment on individual staffing matters but did not deny reports that Stein had been suspended, saying that Truss believed some briefings about parliamentary colleagues were “completely unacceptable”.
Stein is understood to be facing an investigation by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics unit.
Asked about Stein, the press secretary said: “I am not going to get into individual staffing matters but the prime minister has made it very clear to her team that some of the sorts of briefings that we have seen are completely unacceptable about parliamentary colleagues and they must stop.”
Javid had been scheduled to ask a question at PMQs, and there had been speculation he might raise the briefing. In the end, Javid did not ask a question at all.
The comments were reported in the Sunday Times when a “No 10 source” rejected the idea that Javid had been considered rather than Jeremy Hunt 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.”
Truss’s press secretary declined to say if Javid had complained personally to the PM.
Stein, who is a special adviser to Truss, has been a fixture around Westminster for years. He was a special adviser to Amber Rudd when she was work and pensions secretary, before she quit over tensions about Boris Johnson’s policy.
Stein subsequently worked in corporate PR, and for Prince Andrew. Stein’s reputation survived the prince’s disastrous BBC interview with Emily Maitlis because he had quit shortly beforehand after advising Andrew to not go ahead with it.
Having formerly worked with Truss when she was a Treasury minister, Stein was an early fixture in her leadership campaign and led much of the communications strategy, winning much of the credit for her convincing win over Rishi Sunak.
Stein was contacted for comment.
