Philip Hammond loses second senior aide just weeks before crunch Budget
2 min read
A senior Treasury advisor has quit her role just weeks before the Budget, in a fresh blow to Philip Hammond.
According to the Sun, Jane Ellison has handed in her notice , although she will remain in post until after the Chancellor's fiscal set-piece on 22 November.
The former minister, who lost her Battersea seat at the recent election, has taken a role at the World Health Organisation as Deputy Director-General for Corporate Operations.
Today's news follows the departure of special advisor Karen Ward, who quit over the summer after being personally recruited by Mr Hammond.
The Chancellor has come under fire in recently with some colleagues accusing him of frustrating the Brexit process.
In a recent newspaper report one minister describing him as an “inept political operator in quite a crowded field” and a Tory grandee saying he was a“s***” who deserves to be “kicked down Whitehall”.
Over the weekend former minister Nicky Morgan inadvertently suggested that Home Secretary Amber Rudd was unhappy with the attacks on Mr Hammond.
Ms Morgan told ITV's Peston on Sunday that she had "been contacted by a very senior Cabinet minister who is appalled at what she is reading” - with several observers deducing that Ms Rudd was the only woman who could be described as a "very senior Cabinet minister".
The row followed a Times article in which Mr Hammond said emergency cash to prepare for a ‘no deal’ Brexit would only be spent “when it’s responsible to do so”.
But he was later slapped down by the Prime Minister who told the Commons: "where money needs to be spent, it will be spent".
The Chancellor is now facing growing pressure to deliver a successful Budget, with senior Government sources telling the Times he is preparing to make a “big offer to the nation”.
Watch Nicky Morgan’s slip of the tongue here:
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