Liam Byrne replacing Hazel Blears, one of the highest-profile roles in the government outside the cabinet. However, just a fortnight later Home Secretary John Reid moved him to the immigration role, switching portfolios with Tony McNulty. McNulty had been connected with the foreign prisoners scandal that caused Tony Blair to sack Charles Clarke in May 2006. Byrne's move was seen as an attempt by Reid to establish an entirely new team to sort out the immigration system. During this period he was also Minister for the West Midlands. Gordon Brown named him Minister for the Cabinet Office in October 2008, replacing the
Operation Bringing Home the Goods Operation Bringing Home the Goods Operation Bringing Home the Goods (, "Mivtza Hava'at Bikurim") was a raid launched by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on March 14, 2006 on a Palestinian prison in Jericho. The prison held several prisoners wanted by Israel, whose incarceration was monitored by British and American wardens. In early 2006, the newly elected Hamas government announced that it intended to release the prisoners. On March 14, the monitors left, and the IDF raided the prison. The prisoners put up a fight, and after a ten-hour siege, the prisoners surrendered and were arrested. A series of riots