Rishi Sunak still has “full confidence” in Suella Braverman despite her incendiary criticism of the police, No.10 has said.
The home secretary’s job is hanging in the balance after she used an article in The Times to accuse the police of having a left-wing bias.
The prime minister’s spokesman took the unusual step on Thursday of confirming the article was “not cleared” by Downing Street and that a probe into the affair was underway.
Asked on Friday morning if the prime minister still had “full confidence” in Braverman, the PM’s spokesperson said: “He does.”
“They work very closely as they have been in preparation for the weekend, tackling small boats and the legislation set out in the King’s Speech to make our streets safer,” the spokesperson said.
They added the government’s “collective focus” was “ensuring Remembrance events are protected from disruption”.
But No.10 refused to say how long the internal inquiry into how Braverman’s article was published without its approval would take.
“We’re looking into what happened with publication of the article,” the spokesperson said. ’We are not providing any timeframe.”
Earlier this morning, chancellor Jeremy Hunt refused to give Braverman his backing.
Braverman comments come amid the ongoing controversy over this weekend’s pro-Palestine march, which coincides with Armistice Day.