Suella Braverman was branded an “agent provocateur” by a Sky News presenter in the wake of the violence which marred Armistice Day in London.
Far-right protesters clashed with police near to the Cenotaph as the nation prepared to commemorate the end of the First World War.
It came after Braverman, the home secretary, branded a pro-Palestine demonstration also taking place yesterday as a “hate march”.
In an article in The Times on Thursday, she also accused the police of showing bias towards left-wing protesters.
On Sky News this morning, presenter Trevor Phillips told defence secretary Grant Shapps that Braverman bore some responsibility for the trouble which broke out.
He said: “What she said was a hate march was never going anywhere near the Cenotaph, she knew that. The number of arrests it turned out was pretty small, mostly thugs of the [English Defence League].
“The home secretary was not acting as a peacemaker here, she was an agent provocateur actually.”
He added: “Are you guys not going to take any responsibility for this?”
But Shapps replied: “Those people who were going to come and try to disrupt this weekend had already said they were going to do it.
“They were doing it in their own twisted way because they were protesting themselves against other marches.”
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to sack Braverman over the Times article, which it later emerged had not been signed off by the prime minister.
Asked if she would still be in her job in a week’s time. Shapps said: “A week is a long time in politics.”