This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The chancellor, Sajid Javid, was not informed in advance about the sacking of one of his senior advisers by Boris Johnson’s strategist Dominic Cummings, it has emerged.

Sonia Khan, Javid’s media adviser, was escorted from No 10 by a police officer after being accused of misleading Cummings over her contact with individuals close to the former chancellor Philip Hammond, who has been trying to block a no-deal Brexit.

Downing Street rebuffed speculation that she had leaked the government’s no-deal planning report, Operation Yellowhammer, to the press.

Khan was the second adviser working for Javid to be sacked by No 10, leading to suggestions that Javid is becoming increasingly isolated from the core of the Johnson regime.

One former Whitehall colleague of Khan’s said: “Let’s hope Saj makes a stand and sticks up for her. I won’t hold my breath though.”

This week, Javid’s first major speech on the economy was cancelled 24 hours before he had been due to deliver it in Birmingham. Downing Street, rather than the Treasury, announced a proposed cut to fuel duty that had been briefed to the papers over the weekend.

A No 10 spokesman said: “We don’t comment on individual staffing and personnel matters.”

A fiery exchange between Cummings and Khan is understood to have revolved around whether she had had contact with a former Hammond staff member. It is understood Khan was asked to hand over her work phone, and also presented her personal phone to Cummings.

Downing Street made clear that Khan was not being blamed for the leak of the Yellowhammer documents on no-deal planning. A senior government source said: “Sonia Khan was not responsible for the Yellowhammer leak.”

Whitehall sources confirmed that the reason Khan was dismissed on the spot was because she had been in contact with people from a group of Conservative politicians working against Johnson by trying to work out ways to avoid a no-deal Brexit, and that she had lied about her contact with them.

Three other women in senior advisory, policy and organisational roles in the Conservative party have also left since Johnson became prime minister.

Play Video 1:24 How Tory MPs used to talk about prorogation and what they say now – video

Sources close to the government have described an emerging pattern in the way they have been dismissed, which they have described as “opaque and shocking” and not always involving a clear explanation of what they have done wrong.

One Tory insider said the way some former staffers had been treated by No 10 was “horrific”.

Special advisers, known as Spads, are said to be deeply concerned about the sudden departure of Khan.