Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is preparing to dismiss Migration Minister Mike Tapp following a breach of the ministerial code. Tapp published an unauthorised article in The Times that challenged the government’s immigration reforms.
The article argued that migrant care workers should receive a special exemption from new rules on permanent settlement. Mike Tapp, MP for Dover and Deal, wrote the piece without official clearance, openly contradicting Mahmood’s planned immigration overhaul.
In his article, Tapp pushed for quicker settlement rights for migrant care workers, opposing the official government policy and revealing internal government discussions. Publishing unpublished government policy ideas without permission breaches collective cabinet responsibility and the ministerial code.
Insiders have emphasised that Tapp’s actions crossed a clear line, undermining the Home Secretary and her team’s carefully managed reforms. The sacking comes at a sensitive time for the government, with Mahmood leading a major immigration system overhaul and the Labour Party undergoing leadership changes after Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation.
This incident risks adding to political instability. A Whitehall source told reporters, “Mike Tapp is expected to be sacked for breaching the ministerial code. 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.”
Originally published by UKNIP.
