May denies breaking Ministerial Code over Gove letter

Labour says Theresa May is still "failing to take responsibility" for the publication of a letter to colleague Michael Gove that appeared to accuse the Department for Education of failing to act over alleged extremist links in some Birmingham schools.

Following Ms May's statement to parliament today, shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The Home Secretary claimed she did not authorise the release of her letter to Michael Gove accusing his department of a failure to act to the media or on the Home Office website.

"Yet time and again she refused to answer whether she wrote it in order to leak it, who did release it and why she left it on the website for three days," she added.

“Theresa May didn't write or send the letter until after Michael Gove briefed the Times. Are we really supposed to believe she didn't write it in order to leak it?," Ms Cooper said.

Theresa May told the House of Commons that "action was taken immediately" on a private letter to Michael Gove that was published on the Home Office website.

Theresa May had questioned the Home Secretary on why the letter had been allowed to remain on the site for three days before it was removed.

Labour MPs have criticised Theresa May for "ducking" questions over who authorised the release of a letter she wrote to Michael Gove about alleged radicalisation in some Birmingham schools.

The Home Secretary told the House of Commons that she "did not authorise" the release of the letter but members of the opposition, including the shadow leader of the House of Commons Angela Eagle, complained she would not say who did.

Home Secretary Theresa May has denied Labour allegations that she broke the Ministerial Code and has demanded that the Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper withdraw her comments.

More: Labour accuses May of breaking ministerial code

Theresa May was unaware of the decision to publish a private ministerial letter she had sent to Education Secretary Michael Gove on the Home Office website last week, Downing Street has said.

ITV News Political Correspondent Libby Wiener reports:

Mohammed Shafique a governor from one of the schools in Birmingham at the centre of the Trojan Horse allegations has accused Ofsted inspectors of having an agenda against them.

Golden Hillock School in Sparkhill is one of six schools expected to be rated inadequate and placed in special measures when Ofsted's reports are published tomorrow.

21 schools were inspected following allegations of an extremist Islamic plot to seize control of the governing bodies.

Ofsted has declined to comment.

Home Secretary Theresa May will be called before the Home Affairs select committee to answer questions on her "unseemly" row with Education Secretary Michael Gove over claims that schools have been radicalised.

The committee's chairman, Keith Vaz, has written to Mrs May demanding a full explanation, and has also said there is a "strong case" to take evidence from her aide Fiona Cunningham who resigned as a result of the spat.

"We have conducted two inquiries relating to counter terrorism in the last two years which have emphasised the need for the whole of Government to work together," Mr Vaz said. "This unseemly row obscures the pressing issue of how to combat radicalism in schools."

Read: Theresa May reacted 'like an Israeli tank commander'

Labour shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has accused Theresa May of breaking the ministerial code, and called on her to explain her conduct.

Speaking to ITV News Political Correspondent Libby Wiener, she said

"We still have silence from the Home Secretary, even though the Education Secretary has apologised, and it does seem that she too has broken the ministerial code."

More: Theresa May reacted 'like an Israeli tank commander'

Toby Young, founder of the West London Free School, said the Home Secretary Theresa May reacted to criticism from the Education Secretary "like an Israeli tank commander being confronted by a stone-throwing Palestinian".

Speaking to Political Correspondent Libby Wiener he said Gove's comments show he is taking the issue of extremism in schools seriously, but it was a mistake to brief against Mrs May's counter-terrorism adviser, Charles Farr.

Timeline: May and Gove's row over Birmingham schools

Yesterday Theresa May's special adviser Fiona Cunningham stood down over her part in the row.

Read: Gove apologises as Home Office adviser resigns