Attorney General 'hired illegal immigrant'

A member of the Attorney General's staff has been sacked amid allegations she was an illegal immigrant.

The woman, Loloahi Tapui, from Tonga, worked as a cleaner at Baroness Scotland's family home in west London. Lady Scotland's office said Ms Tapui had been dismissed after being made aware the Daily Mail was about to make her status public.

A statement issued on behalf of the Attorney General – the Government's most senior lawyer – said she took the cleaner on "in good faith" and believed her to be entitled to work in Britain.

The Government has cracked down in recent months on employers who take on illegal immigrants, even naming and shaming some firms on a website. The shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: "There is a real 'one rule for them, one rule for us' attitude at the heart of this Government and it is a disgrace."

Employing an illegal immigrant can, under laws Lady Scotland helped on to the statute books, be punishable with a fine of up to £10,000.