Downing Street slaps down Shabana Mahmood as Labour civil war explodes | Politics | News
And Ms Mahmood demanded that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer sack Mr Tapp.
But a Downing Street spokesperson said: “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.
“Mike Tapp has been reminded of his obligations under the Ministerial Code, including collective responsibility and procedures relating to the clearance and presentation of government policy.”
A source close to Ms Mahmood 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 he is threatening to leak sensitive documents. The Home Secretary has asked the Prime Minister to sack him.”
The mutinous minister wrote in a national newspaper that care workers should be left out of restrictions on citizenship.
Mr Tapp is a close ally of the Prime Minister and has repeatedly defended the outgoing Labour leader.
On Friday, Mr Tapp came out swinging, vowing “I won’t be intimidated”, after Ms Mahmood urged Sir Keir to swing the axe and cut him loose.
In a brazen social media broadside, the Dover and Deal MP mocked his accusers, jeering: “It’s gone from ‘he broke the ministerial code’ to ‘he stole my idea’.”
He insisted the explosive Times article simply spelled out work he’d been grafting on for months, and dared critics to read it.
“I have put my views across on a policy I’ve been working on for months (I have the receipts),” he wrote. “Give it a read, and let’s continue to discuss.”
Then came the parting shot: “I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy!”
Ms Mahmood has vowed to overhaul settlement rules after 616,000 people arrived in the UK on health and care visas.
