Truss’s press secretary, answering questions 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 Truss believed some briefings on parliamentary colleagues were “totally unacceptable”. Stein is understood to be facing an investigation by the Cabinet Office’s fitness and ethics unit. Asked about Stein, the spokesman said: “I’m not going to get into individual staffing issues, but the prime minister has made it very clear to her team that some of the redundancies we’ve seen are completely unacceptable to parliamentary colleagues and they need to stop.” Javid was scheduled to ask a question at PMQs and there was speculation he might make the update. In the end Javid didn’t ask a question at all. The comments were reported in the Sunday Times after a “No 10 source” dismissed the idea that Javid and not Jeremy Hunt had been considered to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor. “The prime minister laughed out loud at the suggestion,” the source said. “He’s sat in the cabinet with Javid for 10 years and knows who’s good and who’s shit.” Truss’s press secretary declined to say whether Javid had personally complained to the Prime Minister. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Stein, who is a special adviser to Truss, has been in Westminster for years. He was a special adviser to Amber Rudd when she was work and pensions secretary, before resigning over tensions over Boris Johnson’s policies. Stein then worked in corporate PR for Prince Andrew as well. Stein’s reputation survived the prince’s disastrous BBC interview with Emily Maitlis because he had resigned shortly after advising Andrew not to proceed. Having previously worked with Truss when she was finance minister, Stein was one of the first members of her leadership campaign and led much of the communications strategy, earning much of the credit for her landslide victory over Rishi Sunak. Stein was contacted for comment.
