Rishi Sunak has appointed two new Immigration Ministers after Newark MP Robert Jenrick quit over the Government’s revised deal with Rwanda.
Mid Dorset & North Poole MP Michael Tomlinson will now serve as Illegal Immigration Minister.
Corby MP Tom Pursglove is tasked with covering Legal Migration and Delivery.
Tomlinson’s appointment to Illegal Migration Minister also means Robert Courts will take his place as Solicitor General.
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The two new Immigration Ministers are not regarded as Tory bigwigs.
However, the pair both supported Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
Pursglove, who was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015, served as Immigration Minister under Liz Truss and held a similar brief under Boris Johnson.
Tomlinson held the post of Vice-Chamberlain of the Household in Johnson’s final days in Downing Street and was once deputy chairman of the European Research Group.
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Tom Pursglove MP
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But Pursglove and Tomlinson have notably less Cabinet experience compared to Jenrick.
The Newark MP, who previously served as Johnson’s Housing Secretary, resigned yesterday after warning the Government’s Rwanda legislation “does not go far enough”.
The Prime Minister is facing growing pressure to act to end illegal Channel crossings and curb net migration as former Home Secretary Suella Braverman continues to heap pressure on Number 10.
Channel crossings exceeded 45,000 in 2022 and edge towards 30,000 this year.
Michael Tomlinson MP
Net migration is also posing a problem for the Government with the figure standing at 672,000 in the year ending June 2023.
The previous year saw net migration hit a staggering record high of 745,000.
Sunak will hold a news conference at 11am in a bid to get the Rwanda asylum seeker policy off the ground.
Home Secretary James Cleverly returned from Kigali earlier this week after revising the plan following the Supreme Court’s “unlawful” judgment last month.
Immigration Minister
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Addressing Tory MPs at the 1922 Committee yesterday, the Prime Minister said the Conservative Party must “unite or die”.
However, MPs from the right of the party fear the Government’s current policy risks “electoral oblivion”.
There are up to 100 MPs in the right wing groups, including the ERG, the New Conservatives and the Common Sense Group.
The three groups met earlier this week to discuss strategy with many expressing an interest in putting pressure on Sunak to pull Britain out of the European Court of Human Rights.
