Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has moved to strip Migration Minister Mike Tapp of access to sensitive Home Office documents and key meetings, while urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to dismiss him over an escalating dispute about immigration policy.
The clash erupted after Tapp published an unauthorised article in The Times calling for overseas care workers to be exempt from planned immigration reforms, without informing the Home Secretary or securing government approval.
Downing Street confirmed that Tapp remains in his ministerial role for now, but said the Prime Minister is seeking advice on whether his actions breached the Ministerial Code and the principle of collective responsibility.
The public dispute intensified after Mahmood, who has been among the Cabinet ministers urging Starmer to step aside, formally requested Tapp’s dismissal.
Tapp responded defiantly on social media, rejecting accusations of wrongdoing.
“I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy!” he wrote, adding that he was attending “a wedding in San Francisco” and would discuss the matter further upon his return.
In another post, which was later deleted, Tapp wrote: “The attempted intimidation is quite a sight. I’ve seen off the Taliban and taken out terrorists. Country First, always.”
The Home Office alleges Tapp published proposals that were still under internal discussion and presented them as his own.
One 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.”
The source added: “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 he is threatening to leak sensitive documents. The home secretary has asked the prime minister to sack him.”
The dispute has raised fresh questions about discipline inside government during the final weeks of Starmer’s premiership, with Labour figures already manoeuvring for positions in an expected administration led by Andy Burnham.
Tapp’s newspaper article argued it was his “strong belief” that migrant care workers should not face longer waits before applying for permanent settlement in the UK. Sources close to Mahmood claim she had no knowledge of the article and accused Tapp of attempting to strengthen his position in a future government.
Officials say the proposal had already been discussed within the Home Office and that Tapp had participated in those meetings before publishing it independently.
Justice Minister Jake Richards suggested the row had been handled poorly but acknowledged concerns over Tapp’s actions.
“Mike’s article in The Times sets out what his views are and some of the issues that he in the Home Office is exploring,” Richards said.
“It’s not particularly wise in my mind for junior ministers to kind of set that out publicly. We are part of a team, but he has done that and we will deal with that as a government.”
Meanwhile, Downing Street confirmed the Prime Minister is considering advice from officials, including the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team, before deciding whether further action should be taken.