The Home Office has named a former chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council as its first-ever border security commander.
Martin Hewitt will lead the Border Security Command, which was launched in July to fulfil a manifesto commitment by the Labour Party in the general election.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said Hewitt’s decades of experience “working at the top of law enforcement on national security, public safety and serious organised crime” means he has “the experience and track record we need to lead our Border Security Command”.
The appointment comes ahead of the planned border security, asylum and immigration bill, which the Home Office said will bring forward “intrusive state powers” mirroring counter-terror legislation, to enable law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute people facilitating organised immigration crime.
Announcing the appointment, the Home Office said Hewitt’s “ability to bring together policing, law enforcement, intelligence agencies and government bodies in response to major security threats was key to his appointment”.
“His leadership was most visibly demonstrated in managing the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, coordinating policing efforts,” it added.
After becoming chair of the NPCC – the national coordination body for UK law enforcement and the representative body for senior police officers – in 2019, Hewitt’s responsibilities included coordinating policing efforts as part of the government's response to the Covid pandemic and appearing at daily government briefings on the virus.
Hewitt’s career began with seven years in the army, latterly as lieutenant, after training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
He joined Kent Police in 1993 and transferred to the Metropolitan Police in 2005. There he held three successive assistant-commissioner roles, focusing on professionalism, territorial policing and frontline policing respectively.
He became deputy chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council in 2015, moving up to the chair position four years later.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to policing, having been awarded the Queen's Police Medal ten years earlier.
A job advert for the border security commander, posted in July, said the role would “ensure the border security system has the right capabilities to address the threats facing it.”
Responsibilities include “providing strategic direction and performance management of the system; developing policy; deploying funding and other levers to drive improvements in border security; and addressing organised immigration crime".
The Home Office said it was seeking“an exceptional leader with senior-level experience of delivering through a large and geographically dispersed workforce, which spans several disciplines and specialisms” for the £200,000-a-year role.
Announcing the appointment ahead of a visit to Rome, where he will tour Italy’s National Coordination Centre for Migration, Keir Starmer said Hewitt’s “unique expertise will lead a new era of international enforcement to dismantle these networks, protect our shores and bring order to the asylum system”.
The prime minister is expected to outline the UK’s strategy to work more closely with European partners on tackling irregular migration during the visit, where he will be joined by Hewitt.
Starmer is currently working to increase security cooperation with Europe and has increased the number of National Crime Agency officers working on organised immigration crime in Europol by 50%.
Cooper said the government has taken "early action against the smuggler gangs including increasing British officers stationed at Europol and commencing recruitment of 100 specialist investigators to go after these criminal networks and their supply chains, including seizing boats and engines".
“With the Border Security Command we can go much further – building new law enforcement partnerships across Europe and getting new powers into place, to go after the gangs, tackle dangerous boat crossings and save lives,” she added.
Hewitt said he is "honoured and excited" at the appointment.
“I am under no illusions of the challenges that lie ahead, but I am determined to face them head-on," he said.
“For too long, the criminal gangs who smuggle people through Europe have abused our borders in the name of profit, and they are responsible for the deaths of scores of vulnerable, innocent people. We will dismantle them, bring them to justice and prevent them from using exploitation and deceit to fill their pockets.
“It is great to see that progress has been made in recent weeks, and we will build on this to forge deeper relationships with all of the organisations within Border Security Command, as well as our friends and partners across the world.”