Home Office revamp as PM seeks to close gap on Farage

Sir Keir Starmer has orchestrated a ministerial clearout of the Home Office after a failure to tackle illegal migration and rows over grooming gangs and policing that have badly damaged Labour in the polls.

- DAVID MADDOX MILLIE COOKE

With panic rising over Reform’s 10-point lead in the polls and Nigel Farage continuing to capitalise on a failure to stop the small boats amid protests outside migrant hotels, Sir Keir appears to have lost patience with the highly vaunted team he installed in July last year.

Former home secretary Yvette Cooper, who just weeks ago was laying out her vision for the future of the Home Office, has been appointed foreign secretary, while several of her key ministers have been moved to different parts of government.

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson has been sent to work and pensions, while Dame Angela Eagle is to be farming minister. Security minister Dan Jarvis is relocated to the Cabinet Office, but will continue to liaise with the Home Office.

And in come Nottingham North MP Alex Norris and Croydon West MP Sarah Jones, both lower-profile politicians than the team before but two who have earned a reputation for graft as ministers.

While Downing Street has not commented, it appears that concerns over the way the department was performing have played a role in the clearout. Record numbers of small boats and migrant hotels have also badly hurt Labour in the polls. The moves came on the day that Reform put Lucy Connolly on the conference stage, welcoming her as “a political prisoner” despite her tweet during the riots inspired by the Southport murders suggesting that migrant hotels should be burnt down.