The Home Secretary has rejected Suella Braverman’s claim that Islamists are in charge of Britain.

James Cleverly said he “can understand her frustration” but insisted that we live in a “high-functioning democracy”.

In an article for The Telegraph, Mrs Braverman wrote: “The truth is that the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge now. They have bullied the Labour Party, they have bullied our institutions, and now they have bullied our country into submission.”

She made the remarks after the Commons Speaker sparked a furious backlash over a Gaza ceasefire vote by allowing a vote on a Labour amendment, leading to accusations that he had given in to extremists.

When asked if his predecessor at the Home Office was right to claim that Islamists are running the country, Mr Cleverly told Times Radio: “No. I can understand her frustration but we do still live in one of the greatest countries in the world if not the greatest country in the world.

“We have a high-functioning democracy. We live by the rule of law. And I don’t think it is right or appropriate to imply anything other than that.”

Mrs Braverman’s column was also attacked by the London mayor who said she was “doing her best to outflank Enoch Powell”, the Right-wing former Conservative MP famous for his “Rivers of Blood” speech.

Mr Powell became a political pariah in the years after his 1968 speech when he used a speech at a Conservative Association meeting in Birmingham to rail against the social consequences of immigration from the Commonwealth and new race relations laws.

Sadiq Khan wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Mrs Braverman’s remarks were a “poisonous attempt to drive a wedge between our communities” and an attempt to “serve her own naked ambition”.

Meanwhile, Lord Mann, the government’s anti-Semitism tsar, also criticised Mrs Braverman, claiming that she “ignored” his advice on how to tackle anti-Jewish hate while she was home secretary, adding that her “inaction” while she was in office was “part of the problem”.

Mrs Braverman declined to respond to the criticism levelled at her by Mr Khan and Lord Mann. She was sacked by Mr Sunak in November 2023 after she accused police of “playing favourites” with pro-Palestinian protesters.

She used her Telegraph column to accuse political leaders of “burying their heads in the sand”, and preferring to believe in the “illusion” of a successful multicultural society and remaining terrified of being called racist if they challenged them.

“But the law has not changed, mass extremism parades itself proudly, campuses remain dangerous places for Jews, and Labour is still rotten to the core,” she said.

Sir Lindsay initially defended his decision, saying he had broken with convention to allow MPs to vote on the widest possible range of amendments, citing threats that politicians had received over their stance on Israel and Gaza.

But on Thursday, he admitted he had made a “wrong decision” in his effort to protect MPs as he fought to keep his job.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Commons leader, and some Tory rebels are now trying to oust the Speaker by forcing a no-confidence vote. By Friday evening, over 70 MPs had signed a motion declaring no confidence in Sir Lindsay.