Did Truss say ‘Javid needs to be ready to take over’?

A CABINET minister has allegedly suggested that Sajid Javid has to prepare for a possible leadership challenge to Theresa May.

Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was said to have been overheard by a political activist yesterday in a London restaurant talking up the prospects of the Home Secretary.

Zack Polanski also claimed Miss Truss had named Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as another potential candidate but warned he was a ‘game-player’.

Miss Truss, who has been tipped as a future Tory leader herself, was also said to have described Mrs May as a terrible ‘pacifist’ when managing people.

Mr Polanski, an actor and Green Party candidate for The Cities of London & Westminster constituency, posted claims on what he had heard on social media. He also wrote that Miss Truss criticised Mrs May for not using Michael Gove more when negotiating her Brexit deal.

But she is alleged to have said ‘everyone hates him’ for turning on Boris Johnson in the 2016 Tory leadership contest.

Mr Polanski took to Twitter to say he had overheard Miss Truss ‘speaking loudly in a public restaurant at lunchtime’. He claimed she had predicted Mrs May would either win the crucial Brexit vote next Tuesday or it would ‘go to a no confidence vote’.

Miss Truss is said to have told her companion: ‘Sajid needs to be really ready to deal with that. It’s going to be Sajid or Jeremy for leader. The only one who could beat them with members is Boris.’

Miss Truss and Mr Polanski did not reply to requests for comment last night.