Shabana Mahmood locked in explosive stand-off as minister hits again ‘keep stylish’
Home Secretary Ms Mahmood dramatically called for Mike Tapp to be sacked after he penned an article demanding her immigration rules are watered down without her knowledge
Shabana Mahmood’s migration reforms have already faced a backlash(Image: Parliament TV)
An immigration minister who is locked in an extraordinary stand-off with his boss Shabana Mahmood has warned people briefing against him to “stay classy” as he brushed off the threat of being sacked.
Mike Tapp has said he won’t be “intimidated” to drop his view that migrant care workers should be exempt from controversial migration changes. Home Secretary Ms Mahmood dramatically called for him to be sacked on Thursday night after he penned an article demanding her immigration rules are watered down without her knowledge.
Home Office insiders claim Mr Tapp broke the ministerial code by publicly discussing the care worker exemption as it was already under consideration by ministers. They suggested he did so as he is vying for a job under Andy Burnham, who is said to be considering ditching parts of Ms Mahmood’s under-fire plans if he becomes PM. No10 has so far refused to sack Mr Tapp and is not expected to do so.
In his first words since Ms Mahmood called for him to be fired, Mr Tapp this morning wrote on X: “Ok, morning all. It’s gone from ‘he broke the ministerial code’ to ‘he stole my idea’. I have put my views across on a policy I’ve been working on for months (I have the receipts) in an Op Ed in the times.
“Give it a read, and let’s continue to discuss. I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy!” He posted a selfie of himself with a foggy background, adding: “Oh and I’m at a wedding in San Francisco, but happy to talk more when I’m back (I promise that’s the Golden Gate Bridge hidden by the fog).”
A Government source last night said: “The Home Secretary has asked the Prime Minister for Mike Tapp to be sacked for breaching the Ministerial Code.” An insider added to Sky News: “He has taken possible ideas that the Home Secretary and her team were working on, and briefed them as his own to try to win a job in the new administration.”
Under the ministerial code, ministers must take collective responsibility for decisions. The code says ministers should be able to “argue freely in private while maintaining a united front when decisions have been reached”.
Jake Richards, a justice minister and whip, admitted it wasn’t wise for Mr Tapp to “freestyle” in a newspaper article. He told Sky News on Friday morning: “I don’t think it’s wise for ministers to sort of freestyle in government. We are a team, we are a collective effort, so I don’t think it’s wise.”
Mr Richards admitted there was a debate happening internally over Ms Mahmood’s controversial immigration reforms but that it should happen in private. He continued: “There’s a debate internally about where that balance is and how we get this right.
“We launched a consultation late last year, and that debate is continuing. The Home Secretary will be setting out her proposals in the next few weeks. I would prefer that debate to happen in private rather than that… because we’re a government, we’re a team, and that’s right.”
He said it was up to Mr Starmer to decide whether Mr Tapp should be sacked. “That’s a matter for the Prime Minister, and of course he’ll be looking into that,” he said.
Mr Burnham – who is widely expected to replace Mr Starmer in No10 – is weighing up whether to water down a string of proposals put forward as part of a migration shake-up. Proposals to change ILR rules and apply them retrospectively have sparked an outcry.
If it went ahead, it would mean care workers who came to the UK after the Covid pandemic would see their wait for qualification go up to 15 years, three times the current five. This requires them to seek a new sponsor every time they change job and unions warn it could lead to an exodus in the embattled sector.
Over 100 Labour MPs have written to Mr Starmer demanding a rethink. Last month Lydia Kabute, who came to the UK from Kenya in 2023 on a health and social care visa, told The Mirror: “Why shift the goalposts from five years to 15 years? Did we do something wrong?
“Covid had ravaged everything, it had messed everything up (in the care sector). We came to help and assist. Remember, you (the UK Government) told us to come and help and you gave us the conditions. But now the goal has been shifted.”
Trade union Unison warns the rule change is morally wrong and said it could deepen the crisis in social care. It says migrant staff make up nearly 30% of the sector’s workforce.
Under current rules a person needs to be in the UK for five years before they can get settled status. This is going up to a standard 10 years – but Ms Mahmood says NHS workers, high earners and people who volunteer will be fast-tracked. On the flipside, migrants who claim benefits or who came to the country illegally will be penalised.
Ms Mahmood has insisted her reforms will create a compassionate but controlled system.
In his article for The Times, Mr Tapp wrote: “It is my strong belief that those who have come to the United Kingdom on care worker visas who have played by the rules should not be required to wait longer to apply for settlement. That is the issue I am working hard to address.”
