Home Secretary Theresa May has denied Labour allegations that she broke the Ministerial Code by authorising the publication of a private letter to Michael Gove about alleged extremism in some Birmingham schools.
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.
Yesterday Theresa May's special adviser Fiona Cunningham stood down over her part in the row.
The leaking, from her department, of a letter to Michael Gove, raises serious questions for the Home Secretary to answer.
One school was praised by Ofsted for using money from the pupil premium to pay for a number of cultural trips to Saudi Arabia.
Six Birmingham schools will be rated 'inadequate' and several more downgraded. Council officials have been criticised for failing to act.