Boris Johnson faces embarrassment after lawyers concluded that the special adviser sacked by his top aide Dominic Cummings is entitled to tens of thousands of pounds in compensation.
The Standard understands that the Cabinet Office has been advised to offer Sonia Khan a settlement because of the way she was treated, including being escorted out of 10 Downing Street by an armed police officer.
A key flaw in the Government’s actions as an employer is understood to be that no warnings were given to Ms Khan.
Ms Khan, a 27-year-old former civil servant earning between £53,000 and £70,000 a year, was special adviser to Chancellor Sajid Javid and previously worked for his predecessor Philip Hammond.
She was summoned to a meeting at No 10 on August 29 where Mr Cummings demanded to know if she had been in contact with Mr Hammond , who became a leading Brexit rebel after resigning from the Government on the day Mr Johnson took over as leader.
According to reports, Ms Khan said she had not spoken with Mr Hammond and Mr Cummings asked her about meeting another former aide to the ex-chancellor. Ms Khan said she met the aide for a “social engagement” a fortnight before and allowed Mr Cummings to look at her personal and work phones.
Mr Cummings found a log of a call a week before and, according to a report in The Telegraph, accused her of lying. Ms Khan said she thought Mr Cummings had only asked her about meetings.
Mr Cummings reportedly told Ms Khan “you know what you have done” and fired her. He then left the room and sent an armed police officer to accompany Ms Khan out of No 10.
At the end of Downing Street she was asked to surrender her security pass. She was allowed to retrieve her personal effects from the Treasury accompanied by a civil servant. Mr Javid, who was not informed in advance, was said to have been furious at the way the matter was handled.
Chuka Umunna, who was a City employment lawyer before becoming an MP, said it looked like an open and shut case. He said: “Based on the facts reported and depending on her length of service this looks like an automatically unfair dismissal given the failure to follow a proper process.”
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: “We do not comment on individual personnel matters.” Ms Khan said: “No comment.”
