In his last day, Moore – a police officer on secondment to the Border Force – told the committee he was retiring for “personal and professional” reasons that he wouldn’t discuss and wanted to “look at other options”.
Moore took up the temporary appointment on 1 March and initially appeared keen to continue in the role over the long term, expressing his wish to apply for the permanent post. His departure is a blow to the Home Office, which was hoping for stability in the leadership of the force after it was split from the UKBA.
Vaz said that the Home Office would have liked Moore to have remained long enough to implement the recommendations made by John Vine, the independent chief inspector of the UKBA, following the resignation of the previous head of the agency, Brodie Clarke.
Moore responded that work has been underway for six months to “make sure that there is absolute clarity of the roles between UKBA and the Border Force.”