Liz Truss ‘suspends her senior aide Jason Stein’ and orders end to hostile briefings against Tory MPs – after No10 source branded ex-Chancellor Sajid Javid ‘s***’

• PM reportedly suspends Jason Stein, one of her most senior Downing St aides
• Liz Truss orders No10 team to end hostile briefings against Conservative MPs
• Ex-Chancellor Sajid Javid was branded ‘s***’ by a No10 source this weekend 

Liz Truss has suspended one of her most senior political aides amid a row over recent newspaper briefings from Downing Street, it has emerged.

Jason Stein, a special adviser to the Prime Minister, will reportedly face a formal investigation by Whitehall’s propriety and ethics team. 

According to the BBC, Mr Stein – who previously worked for Prince Andrew – has been suspended at a time when Ms Truss is battling to save her premiership.

It comes amid anger among Tory MPs over briefings from No10 sources at the weekend – including ex-Chancellor Sajid Javid being branded ‘s***’.

Ms Truss’s press secretary this afternoon refused to comment on ‘individual staffing matters’.

But they added: ‘The PM 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 PM’s press secretary replied: ‘That is not my understanding.’ 

Liz Truss has reportedly suspended her senior aide Jason Stein amid a row over hostile briefings against Tory MPs

Mr Stein – who previously worked for Prince Andrew – is said to have been suspended at a time when Ms Truss is battling to save her premiership

In a denial of claims Sajid Javid had been considered to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor, a No10 source told the Sunday Times the PM ‘knows who is good and who is s***’

Following Kwasi Kwarteng’s sacking as Chancellor by Ms Truss, in the wake of the mini-Budget meltdown, it was claimed allies of the PM had reached out to Mr Javid as a potential replacement.

The Sunday Times reported Mr Javid would have taken on the role but wanted ‘complete control’ over taxes and public spending, as well as the reinstatment of Sir Tom Scholar as the Treasury’s top civil servant.

In a denial of the claims Mr Javid had ever been considered to replace Mr Kwarteng – prior to Jeremy Hunt being appointed as the new Chancellor – a No10 source told the newspaper: ‘The Prime Minister laughed out loud at the suggestion.

‘She has sat in the Cabinet with Javid for 10 years and she knows who is good and who is s***.’

Mr Javid had been listed to ask a question at this afternoon’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions but did not end up speaking in the House of Commons.

The BBC reported Mr Stein had been suspended shortly after PMQs began at noon.

It was claimed Mr Javid had made Mr Stein’s suspension a condition of him not raising the row directly with the PM in the Commons. 

Mr Stein had worked on Ms Truss’s Tory leadership campaign this summer before joining her No10 team.

He left a previous role as an adviser to Prince Andrew in 2019.

His departure came amid reports he was overruled when he told the Queen’s second son not to do a BBC Newsnight interview about his relationship with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

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