Mike Tapp has been lambasted for his attempt to “undermine” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, and has been accused of “aligning with the soft Left”.
Speaking to GB News, Chief Political Commentator at The Independent John Rentoul declared an unauthorised article on Ms Mahmood’s immigration policy “out of character”.
Writing an article for The Times, Mr Tapp said it was his “strong belief” that migrants should not face extended periods for permanent settlement in Britain.
The Home Office Minister also called for migrant care workers to be given “special exemptions” from Ms Mahmood’s robust policy on Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Reacting to the latest Labour row, Mr Rentoul told GB News: “What Mike Tapp has done seems rather out of character for him.
“I really admired him, and I thought the whole point of having a blue Labour person like him in the Home Office was to strengthen Shabana Mahmood’s extremely robust policy on immigration, not to undermine it.”
Mr Rentoul said the decision by Mr Tapp to write the article without Ms Mahmood’s permission “doesn’t make sense”.
He said: “I can’t understand why he suddenly decided to align with the soft left and call for social care workers to be exempt from these ILR changes. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
John Rentoul has scolded Mike Tapp after attempting to ‘undermine’ Shabana Mahmood
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GB NEWS / PA
Mr Rentoul expressed his strong disagreement with the migration minister’s stance on holding a general election.
He told GB News: “I disagree with him about the fact that he says there should be a general election if you change Prime Minister and in between elections. I don’t agree with that, and I don’t agree with this.
“So I had great hopes of him, but they’ve been dashed.”
Asked by host Jacob Rees-Mogg whether Mr Tapp may be “positioning himself for a Burnham Government”, Mr Rentoul highlighted Mr Burnham’s previous approval of Ms Mahmood’s policies.
A Whitehall insider said the immigration minister was gunning for a role in Andy Burnham’s Cabinet | PA
He explained: “Well, possibly except that Andy Burnham has moved since then and said that he approves of Shabana Mahmood’s policies, although he’s left a bit of wriggle room to tweak the details.
“But exempting social care workers from the right to remain changes is not tweaking a detail, that would just be undermining the whole point of what Shabana Mahmood is trying to do.
“Which is to ensure that the so-called Boris wave, the large number of people who came into the country under Boris Johnson’s Government, can’t get permanent rights to settle as quickly as they once could.”
Mr Rentoul declared: “And I think she’s absolutely right in that, and I don’t know what Mike Tapp’s playing at.”
Mr Rentoul told GB News that he ‘doesn’t know what Mike Tapp is playing at’
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GB NEWS
Me Rentoul argued that he “cannot remember such a febrile moment” in UK politics.
He concluded: “I don’t remember anything like that at all. It just goes to show what a febrile moment we are in, between prime ministers, and Mike Tapp obviously thinks that he can gain some advantage by getting himself sacked or by prompting Shabana Mahmood to say that she wants him sacked.
“Maybe he knows something we don’t about where Andy Burnham stands.
“And maybe he’s had some kind of understanding that he’s going to get some kind of promotion from the new Government, but it doesn’t seem to add up.”