Theresa May’s former aide Nick Timothy has been been called in to “review the effectiveness” of the Home Office.
Timothy, who was an adviser to May both when she was home secretary and prime minister, has been appointed as an independent consultant to “advise on structures and systems which support the home secretary in the Home Office”, a departmental spokesperson said.
He took up the unpaid position on 12 December and will continue his work until the end of February, they confirmed.
He was brought in following a series of scandals including overcrowding and poor living conditions at the Manston asylum centre last year.
The former No.10 adviser, who served as joint chief of staff to the then-PM along with Fiona Hill, co-authored a report last month that called for “immediate and bold action” to reduce the number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel to reach the UK.
The Centre for Policy Studies report, which featured a foreword by home secretary Suella Braverman, called for asylum seekers who enter the UK illegally to be detained indefinitely and “rapidly” deported to Rwanda. It also called for more agreements like the one the government has with the east African country to “process” and resettle asylum seekers who seek refuge in the UK.
Other policy changes the paper called for included the creation of an identity database and system of mandatory identity cards.
The report comes days after Braverman walked back a pledge to…
