Immigration minister Mark Harper has quit following the revelation that his cleaner of six years did not have the right to live and work in the UK.
Harper became infamous in the UK as the man behind the “Go Home” van campaign against illegal immigrants that was shelved after a public outcry and lack of any results.
The Tory MP for Forest Dean apologised for any embarrassment caused and insisted that he had always complied with the law in his resignation letter to the prime minister.
When he first employed his cleaner in 2007, he took a copy of her passport and a Home Office letter saying that she could live and work in the UK indefinitely.
Downing Street accepted his resignation, but said that there is no suggestion that Harper “knowingly” employed an illegal immigrant
