Starmer ‘taking advice’ on whether immigration minister broke government protocol – as it happened

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here The prime minister’s official spokesperson has told journalists that Keir Starmer is taking advice on whether Mike Tapp broke with government protocol for writing the article in the Times, but confirmed he retains confidence in both Tapp and the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, despite the escalating row. The spokesperson said: He’s taking advice in the usual way. You wouldn’t expect me to go into the kind of internal processes around that, but as I say, as I think was said last night, decisions on the ministerial code are for the prime minister, and that’s always been the case. 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. Continue reading…