Mahmood restricts minister’s access to documents as Home Office row escalates
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood is restricting one of her ministers’ access to government documents amid a row over a newspaper column.
Immigration Minister Mike Tapp wrote an unauthorized article about Home Office policy, which led Mahmood to ask the prime minister to sack him.
A Home Office source said Mahmood believed the article constituted “freelance on policy” and was a breach of both collective responsibility and the Ministerial Code.
But his request for the prime minister to sack him has not yet been considered and a Downing Street spokesman said the prime minister was “taking advice”.
Tapp, a staunch ally of Sir Keir, said he would “not be afraid to abandon my views”.
A Downing Street spokesman said decisions on the ministerial code were up to the prime minister, adding that the Prime Minister had confidence in both Mahmood and Tapp.
Dispute Tapp’s used an article in The Times, external Arguing that foreign care workers should be exempt from Mahmood’s plans to change visa rules for immigrants already living in the UK.
He wrote: “I have a strong belief that those coming to the UK on care worker visas who play by the rules and genuinely contribute to our care system should not have to wait any longer to apply for settlement.
“That’s what I’ve been working hard to address,” he added.
After the article was published on Thursday evening, a Home Office source told the BBC: “Mike Tapp is expected to be dismissed for breaching the Ministerial Code.
“He took potential ideas that the home secretary and his team were working on and briefed them on trying to win a job in the new administration.”
Reporters noted the following paragraph in the Ministerial Code: “The principle of shared responsibility requires ministers to be able to express their views openly, with the expectation that they will be able to discuss them freely in private, while maintaining a united front when decisions are reached.”
Reply to Tapp It was said on social media site X, external: “It went from ‘he broke the ministerial code’ to ‘he stole my idea.’
“I expressed my views on a policy I have been working on for months in a column in The Times (I have the receipts). Give it a read and let’s continue the discussion.”
“I won’t hesitate to leave my opinions. Stay stylish!”
The home secretary’s allies interpreted the references to “receipts” as a threat to leak sensitive documents.
Tapp will now need the approval of the home secretary before seeing government documents or attending government meetings.
