Shabana Mahmood is set to sack her migration minister after he “brazenly” breached the ministerial code and went over her head.
Mike Tapp, the MP for Dover & Deal, penned an article without his boss’s approval, in which he demanded migrant care workers be given special exemptions from Ms Mahmood’s migration overhaul.
Writing the article for The Times, Mr Tapp said it was his “strong belief” that migrants should not face extended periods for permanent settlement in Britain.
But Ms Mahmood is said not to have given her junior minister the green light to publish the op-ed, revealing fracturing within the top level of Government.
A fiercely loyal ally of Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Tapp became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship back in September 2025, just two months after Labour won its landslide in 2024.
Now, his fate lies with the outgoing Prime Minister, although Downing Street is yet to comment on the matter.
However, it is understood that No10 viewed the incident as a minister merely weighing in on a debate within his policy area.
Mr Tapp was accused of hoping to win another role in a potential Burnham Cabinet while Labour MPs scramble to win favour with the Makerfield MP who is expected to move into No10 on July 17.
In the article, the Home Office minister said he had been liaising with some of Whitehall’s officials to “develop a better approach than a blanket retrospective extension from five years to 10 years for everyone”.
Following the article’s publication, a Whitehall insider said: “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.”
Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, came out swinging at the potential sacking, telling GB News: “The Labour Government has descended into chaos and infighting – with Shabana Mahmood’s junior minister openly defying her in a brazen attempt to get a place in Burnham’s Cabinet.
“There is not a single thought for the national interest here. All these Labour ministers care about is their own personal ambition and jockeying for Government jobs. It’s beneath contempt.”
Mr Tapp previously indicated that, if Mr Burnham were successful in his bid to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, a general election should be called.
Before Sir Keir announced his resignation on Monday, the migration minister said that anyone who expelled the leader would need the approval of Britain to resist the “constant churn” of politicians in Westminster.
Mr Burnham is believed to be at odds with the Home Secretary’s crackdown on migration amid soaring small boat crossings.
Under current legislation, Ms Mahmood’s plans, which are widely sniffed at by a large number of her left-leaning backbenchers, migrants will have to wait longer for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
Earlier this year, more than 100 rebels wrote to the Home Secretary urging her to ditch the plans altogether.
Mr Burnham has already hit out at the choice to apply migration reforms retrospectively, claiming that it would leave them “in a sense of limbo and unable to integrate”.
However, Ms Mahmood has remained in the pool of Mr Burnham’s potential candidates for Home Secretary while the Birmingham Ladywood MP is keen to stay in post.
