Shabana Mahmood sought to deny the migration minister access to sensitive documents without her approval as she demanded his sacking — a rift that has now deepened between the Home Secretary and Keir Starmer.
The row erupted after Mike Tapp wrote an unauthorised article in The Times arguing that foreign care workers “should not be required to wait longer to apply for settlement” — a position that contradicted Mahmood’s planned visa rule changes.
“Downing Street rebuffs Shabana Mahmood's demand to sack Mike Tapp after he wrote an unauthorised article on immigration”
A Home Office source said Mahmood believed the article constituted “freelancing on policy” and was a breach of both collective responsibility and the Ministerial Code. Another source close to the Home Secretary claimed Tapp had “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.”
But Downing Street pushed back, with a spokesperson saying “it is not for any individual secretary of state to determine whether the Ministerial Code has been followed, it is a matter for the prime minister alone.” The spokesperson added that Tapp had been “reminded of his obligations” under the code, including collective responsibility and procedures relating to clearance of government policy.
Starmer declined Mahmood’s request for Tapp to be sacked, and Downing Street said the prime minister had confidence in both Mahmood and Tapp. However, aides confirmed Starmer was taking advice on whether Tapp had breached the code.
Tapp, the MP for Dover and a loyal ally of Starmer, delivered a defiant response on X, writing: “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. I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy!”
He later posted — then deleted — a tweet in which he said: “The attempted intimidation is quite a sight. I’ve seen off the Taliban and taken out terrorists. Country first, always.”
By the end of the day, Tapp had apologised for what he called a “poorly judged tweet”, writing: “I apologise wholeheartedly for any offence I may have caused. I have a lot of respect for the home secretary and will continue working hard for our country.”
The dispute is a sign of the breakdown of ministerial discipline in the last days of Starmer’s time as prime minister. Tapp remains in post, but the Home Secretary’s attempt to restrict his access to papers has laid bare the fracture between two senior figures in a government already under strain.