Government post for Old Herefordian

An MP raised in Herefordshire has been brought into the government as minister for illegal migration at a key time on the issue.

Michael Tomlinson, Conservative MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, was moved to the Home Office post last week from his previous role as Solicitor General for England and Wales.

Mr Tomlinson attended Hereford Cathedral School in the 1990s, where his father Howard was headmaster between 1987 and 2005.

He is married to Frances, daughter of Sir Richard and Lady Mynors of Treago Castle, a fortified manor house in St Weonards, Herefordshire.

He practised as a barrister before entering Parliament in 2015, and was once picked for Herefordshire’s Minor Counties cricket side.

In his new post he has already been involved in the run-up to a crucial vote on the government’s controversial bill to enable deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda, due to be held this evening (Tuesday December 12).