Robert Jenrick immigration minister job divided in two

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick's job has been divided into two roles in a mini-reshuffle.

Rishi Sunak has appointed Michael Tomlinson as illegal migration minister, while Tom Pursglove will have responsibility for legal migration.

Both backed Brexit in the referendum.

Mr Tomlinson, who has been replaced as solicitor general by Robert Courts, will be responsible for steering the government's new Rwanda bill through the Commons.

Like Mr Jenrick - who resigned on Wednesday describing the bill as "a triumph of hope over experience" - he will attend cabinet.

Downing Street said the immigration brief had been split into two roles in recognition of the significant work and action that was taking place on both sides of the job - legal and illegal.

Mr Jenrick argued the Rwanda legislation did not go far enough, and that "stronger protections" were needed to end "the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme".

Amid fresh turmoil in the Conservative Party over the issue, the prime minister called a news conference at Downing Street where he urged Tory MPs to back his new plan to send some asylum seekers to the east African country.

He argued the new bill was the "toughest immigration law ever" and blocked "every single reason that has ever been used to prevent flights to Rwanda from taking off".

He also said it was the "only approach" that would prevent further legal challenges stopping these flights.

A former barrister and minor county cricketer, Mr Tomlinson has been MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole since 2015.

He spent nearly 18 months as deputy chairman of the European Research Group, a group of Conservative MPs who played a key role in blocking Theresa May's Brexit deal and bringing her down as prime minister.

Now 46, he has served in the governments of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak since 2020, and became solicitor general for England and Wales in September last year.

Mr Pursglove, now Minister of State for Legal Migration and Delivery, was previously minister for disabled people, and has also held a junior immigration brief and served as crime and policing minister.

First elected as MP for Corby in 2015, at the age of 26. he was the youngest Conservative in the Commons.

In 2007, he had - aged 18 - become the youngest councillor in the country, when he was elected to Wellingborough Borough Council, also in Northamptonshire.

Last week, Downing Street said it had full confidence in Mr Pursglove, after he was pictured canvassing with suspended MP Peter Bone.

Days earlier, Mr Bone had been suspended from the Commons and the Tory Party there after a report by Parliament's Independent Expert Panel found he had bullied and been sexually inappropriate around a staff member. He has denied the allegations.

Labour said Mr Pursglove's behaviour called "into serious question" how seriously the party was taking the allegations against Mr Bone.

Mr Courts previously chaired the Commons defence committee and was a junior transport minister under Boris Johnson.

He has been MP for Witney since 2016, when David Cameron resigned as an MP following the Brexit referendum.