Shabana Mahmood has barred a minister from attending Home Office meetings and accessing departmental papers, escalating an unusually public clash with Sir Keir Starmer.
The Home Secretary said Mike Tapp will now require explicit permission before taking part in Home Office business, after the Prime Minister declined her call for the loyal Starmer supporter to be dismissed.
Ms Mahmood has alleged that Mr Tapp took a compromise proposal on citizenship rights that was being developed privately and presented it as his own, reportedly in an attempt to strengthen his prospects of securing a role under Andy Burnham.
But Mr Tapp remains in post as immigration minister, with Sir Keir also understood to have resisted calls to refer the matter to his independent adviser.
In a post on X this morning, Mr Tapp struck a defiant tone, writing: “It’s gone from ‘he broke the ministerial code’ to ‘he stole my idea’.”
He added: “I have put my views across on a policy I’ve been working on for months (I have the receipts)…”
Mr Tapp continued: “I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy!”
The minister also shared a selfie from San Francisco, where he is attending a wedding. It was not immediately clear whether his “stay classy” sign-off was a nod to Ron Burgundy’s famous catchphrase from the cult film Anchorman, which is set roughly 500 miles south in San Diego.
A Government source said: ‘Mike Tapp wrote a piece in a national newspaper freelancing on policy without the knowledge or agreement of the Home Secretary or her team.
‘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 is he threatening to leak sensitive documents. The Home Secretary has asked the Prime Minister to sack him.’
Mike Tapp has sounded defiance after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the PM he must go for writing an article urging an easing of her crackdown on citizenship rights
The outgoing premier’s allies regard Ms Mahmood (pictured) as having betrayed him by urging him to set a departure timetable
The extraordinary standoff underlines the chaotic situation in Labour, with the PM retaining elements of control despite power having drained away
The Dover & Deal MP has been among Sir Keir’s few vocal champions, while the outgoing premier’s allies regard Ms Mahmood as having betrayed him by urging him to set a departure timetable.
She has been tipped to become Chancellor under Andy Burnham, who is on track to take over in No10 on July 17.
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Sir Keir came close to sacking the Home Secretary last month, before realising it could collapse his Government.
The extraordinary standoff underlines the chaotic situation in Labour, with the PM retaining elements of control despite power having drained away.
Sir Keir is also adamant he will publish the crucial Defence Investment Plan before a Nato summit on July 7, despite Mr Burnham’s team wanting to wait until he is in place.
In his article for The Times, Mr Tapp said he had been working to ‘develop a better approach than a blanket retrospective extension from five years to ten years for everyone’.
He 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 and have genuinely contributed to our care system should not be required to wait longer to apply for settlement. That is the issue I am working hard to address.’
He said that the exemptions to the ILR changes would apply to all those who came on the health and care visa route, which saw a total of 616,266 issued between 2022 and 2024. More than half of them were family members of workers, known as dependants.
Analysis by the Home Office and its migration advisory committee has estimated that about 200,000 care workers and their dependants will apply for permanent settlement between now and 2030 if the five-year route remains unchanged.
The Home Office told reporters that Mr Tapp ‘is expected to be sacked for breaching the Ministerial Code’.
But No10 said Mr Tapp ‘remains in post’. Insiders suggested any breach of the ministerial code would not be serious enough to remove him.
Touring broadcast studios for the Government this morning, justice minister Jake Richards said it was up to the PM whether to sack Mr Tapp.
‘The Prime Minister makes decisions as to whether the ministerial code or collective responsibility is broken,’ he said.
‘Mike is a friend of mine, he’s someone who served his country before coming into Parliament, he’s someone I have an enormous amount of respect for.
‘My view is that, as a very junior minister myself, we work as a team and I would always work with my Secretary of State, and if my Secretary of State was Shabana Mahmood, that would be even more so, because she’s a formidable Home Secretary.’
The Dover & Deal MP has been among Sir Keir’s few vocal champions
Ms Mahmood has been tipped to become Chancellor under Andy Burnham (pictured), who is on track to take over in No10 on July 17
Mr Richards told Times Radio: ‘We’re clearly in an unusual moment in our politics, where the Prime Minister has resigned on Monday, just a few days ago, and it’s quite clear that his replacement will be taking over in the next few weeks.
‘Now, that is unusual. We need to undertake that interregnum period with some calm, I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and ensure that we work collectively as a team for the interests of the country.
‘I’m sure that’s what Mike will do… he’s someone who served his country before with great distinction, and I’m sure he’ll continue to do that as a minister and as Member of Parliament.’
