James Cleverly has been dubbed "Corporal Calamity" by Tory backbenchers, MPs heard, as the party tears itself apart over record migration.
The new Home Secretary - who has already been accused of describing the town of Stockton as a sh**hole and describing the Rwanda plan as bats*** - faces growing anger from within his own party. Figures published last week revealed net migration hit 745,000 in 2022 - the highest figure on record. Housing Secretary Michael Gove today admitted the Government has failed to provide enough homes to accomodate demand this brought.
In a scathing broadside in the Commons, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attacked the Government's record on migration, telling Mr Cleverly: "They've been in power for 13 years and all we've got is chaos and briefing wars. His backbenchers are already calling him Colonel Calamity - he's got Corporal Chaos (Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick) next to him on the benches.
"Given the mess he's inherited and his penchant for profanity, does he accept he's now up a certain kind of creek without a paddle?"
Ministers are weighing up draconian changes to visa laws, including a cap on the number of NHS and care workers from abroad. Challenging the Government, Tory backbencher Jonathan Gullis said the net migration figures were "completely unacceptable".
He called on Mr Jenrick to bring in a raft of measures put forward by the right-wing New Conservatives faction. These include abolishing fast-track visas for health and social care workers and increasing salary thresholds for those allowed into the UK. Mr Jenrick said legal migration levels are "far too high", claiming it impacts access to services and undermines "social cohesion", adding: "That's why we need to take action."
The Tories had pledged to bring net migration below 226,000 in their last election manifesto. Asked if the UK had enough homes to meet demands due to immigration, Mr Gove told Times Radio: "Yes, in fact I think actually the situation is - if anything - worse than you depict.
"It is the case that the migratory flows put more pressure on housing, but we haven't built enough homes overall for generations. This Government is going to hit its target of a million new homes in this Parliament, but we do need to go further."
The latest row over immigration comes after Suella Braverman claimed Rishi Sunak agreed to increase the salary threshold for migrant workers to £40,000 as part of a secret leadership contest deal.
Mr Sunak said: "I'm very clear that the levels of net migration are too high. They need to come down to more sustainable levels. It is encouraging that the Office for National Statistics last week said the numbers are slowing but we need to do more.
"I have already taken action to tighten the number of dependants that students can bring when they come to study here." He added: "As we need to do more, we'll look at that and where there are abuses of the system we will of course act. The levels do need to come down, they are too high."
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