The government’s top choice for the new borders watchdog will work from the UK full-time, Sir Keir Starmer said, after it emerged he lives in Finland.
John Tuckett told MPs on Tuesday that he currently commutes from the Nordic country whenever he needs to.
He has worked as the UK’s immigration services commissioner for six years, but has been selected as Labour’s preferred candidate for the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI).
Asked by the Home Affairs Select Committee if he lives in commuting distance from the London office, he replied: “No I don’t, I have a family home in Finland and I come across to this country whenever I need to.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch seized on the exchange during Prime Minister’s Questions, saying: “The government is now recruiting a new chief inspector of borders who lives in Finland and wants to work from home. This is not serious. Why should the British public put up with this?”
Sir Keir replied that Mr Tuckett was appointed to his current senior position in 2019 by the Conservatives and “then worked for five years from Finland”.
“We’ve changed that and he’s now going to be working from the United Kingdom full-time,” the prime minister said.
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Speaking about his work arrangements, Mr Tuckett had told the committee he pays for travel and accommodation himself and “always” has done.
Asked how he would inspect the UK’s borders while living in another country, he added: “I work in UK and I would be in the UK, I’m resident in Finland.”
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He also said he would be fine to work five days in the office if needed, but envisioned a 60-40 split if he got the new job.
He said: “I have done this kind of work before, and when I was asked this question at my interview, I said, I think that my judgement is you need time when you’re available for ministers, visits, all the things where you need to do face to face.
“You also need time where you can think, sit back, write, because you don’t write a report, you know, in 10 spare minutes in between two major appointments. So I think there’s a 60-40 split.”
Mr Tuckett was announced as the preferred applicant for the chief inspector position by the Home Office in January, with previous experience as the chief executive of the Marine Management Organisation and working for the Archbishop of York.
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Announcing the recommendation of Mr Tuckett for the role, migration minister Seema Malhotra said: “His track record of delivering complex change programmes across government, combined with his current role as immigration services commissioner, makes him ideally suited to take on this crucial independent oversight role at an important time for our border security.”
If Mr Tuckett is confirmed as the next inspector, he will replace interim watchdog boss David Bolt – who has served since June last year.
Mr Bolt’s appointment came after the previous borders watchdog David Neal was sacked in February last year amid claims he breached the terms of his appointment.
He later voiced his frustrations of the time taken for his reports to be published, and said there were “very few” ways of speaking out about his concerns on security.
