The home secretary said Mike Tapp should be axed for allegedly breaching the ministerial code by publicly speaking out against government policy.
Tapp, a junior minister in the Home Office, wrote an article in The Times in which he said migrant care workers should be exempt from tough new immigration rules.
It is understood that Mahmood was unaware that he planned to write the column.
A government source said: “The home secretary has asked the prime minister for Mike Tapp to be sacked for breaching the ministerial code.”
But a senior Whitehall insider told HuffPost UK that it was “very unlikely he’ll be sacked”.
Tapp broke his silence on the row in a post on X on Friday morning in which he appeared to take a thinly-veiled swipe at Mahmood.
He said: “Ok, morning all. It’s gone from ‘he broke the ministerial code’ to ‘he stole my idea’.
“I have put my views across on a policy I’ve been working on for months (I have the receipts) in an op ed in The Times. Give it a read, and let’s continue to discuss. I won’t be intimidated to drop my views. Stay classy!”
The clash between the PM and a senior member of his own cabinet comes just three weeks before Starmer is expected to be replaced by Andy Burnham.
Mahmood is known to be one of the ministers who privately urged Starmer to announce a timetable for his departure from Downing Street after Labour’s disastrous performance in the May 7 elections.
The home secretary’s demand that Tapp be sacked has also sparked an angry backlash across government.
One government source said: “This is pure Shabana. A batshit show of strength – and absolutely no class whatsoever.”
Another insider told HuffPost UK Mahmood’s behaviour was “unnecessarily vindictive”.
“What’s the point, she can just sack him under Burnham,” the source said.
“It shows what a brass necck Shabana has. But everyone in the Home Office goes mad in the end.”
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