Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has demanded that Migration Minister Mike Tapp be sacked by Prime Minister Keir Starmer after Tapp wrote an unauthorised article in the Times calling for overseas care workers to be exempt from proposed immigration rule changes. As a result, Tapp will be denied access to sensitive documents and meetings without approval from Mahmood.
Escalating row over ministerial discipline
The extraordinary public dispute between Mahmood and Tapp escalated on Friday, with Tapp insisting he would not be intimidated. Downing Street confirmed that Tapp remains a minister but stated that Starmer is taking advice on whether Tapp breached the ministerial code on collective responsibility. Tapp, the MP for Dover and a loyal Starmer supporter, posted a defiant response on X, saying: “The attempted intimidation is quite a sight. I’ve seen off the Taliban and taken out terrorists. Country First, always.”
In a subsequent post, Tapp wrote: “I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy! Oh and I’m at a wedding in San Francisco, but happy to talk more when I’m back.” Some in government interpreted his remarks as a threat to share sensitive information.
Home Office source accuses Tapp of freelancing
According to a Home Office source, Tapp wrote the article without the knowledge or agreement of the home secretary or her team. The source stated: “He took proposals that the home secretary was working on, and briefed them as his own. In doing so, he has broken collective responsibility and has breached the ministerial code. Now he is threatening to leak sensitive documents. The home secretary has asked the prime minister to sack him.”
Pressure is mounting on Starmer to act, with another government member describing Tapp’s actions as “unwise.” The prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters that Starmer is “taking advice in the usual way” and that the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team (PET) and Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, may provide guidance.
Context of the dispute
Mahmood, one of the first cabinet ministers to urge Starmer to stand down, has called for Tapp’s dismissal amid a broader breakdown of ministerial discipline in Starmer’s final days as prime minister. The row also occurs as senior Labour figures jostle for roles in Andy Burnham’s prospective administration, expected to take over as early as 17 July.
Tapp argued in the Times that it was his “strong belief” that migrant care workers should not face longer waits for permanent settlement. A source close to Mahmood claimed Tapp wrote the article “to try to win a job in the new administration.” Tapp was involved in ministerial discussions about exempting care workers from indefinite leave to remain changes, and it is alleged he took an idea from those discussions and passed it off as his own.
Justice Minister Jake Richards told Times Radio: “Mike’s article in the Times sets out what his views are and some of the issues that he in the Home Office is exploring. It’s not particularly wise in my mind for junior ministers to kind of set that out publicly. We are part of a team, but he has done that and we will deal with that as a government.”
