Gove v May row beats plastic bags and pensions for interest

A furious row has broken out between Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, over who is to blame for allowing Islamic extremists to attempt to take over Birmingham schools – the so-called Trojan Horse plot.

This morning, the escalating turf war was in danger of making today's Queen's Speech pale into insignificance, however glittery Her Majesty's new carriage may be.

The row erupted after Gove went to the Prime Minister to accuse the Home Office of not doing enough to curb Islamic extremism in Birmingham schools. May, furious at Gove for going behind her back to the PM, hit back last night by briefing against the Education Secretary, saying it was he who was failing to tackle extremism.

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Greg Hurst in The Times says Gove "is particularly critical of Charles Farr, the former intelligence chief who runs the office for security and counter terrorism (OSCT) within the Home Office" and whose job it is to advise May on the Islamic threat.

To add spice to the row, Nick Robinson, the BBC's political editor, alleged this morning that Farr is “in a relationship” with May’s special adviser, who was doing much of the briefing of journalists on May's behalf last night.

That briefing led to The Times quoting an unnamed Home Office source as saying: “Why is the DfE wanting to blame other people for information they had in 2010?

“Lord knows what more they have overlooked on the subject of the protection of kids in state schools? It scares me.”

May’s allies also leaked an earlier internal memorandum from the Home Secretary saying the Education Secretary should adopt a tougher line on the threat. “How did it come to pass, for example, that one of the governors at Park View was the chairman of the education committee of the Muslim Council of Britain?” she wrote.

In her note, May also demanded a requirement that nobody should be forced to dress in a particular way, to counter pressure on Muslim girls to wear a veil or burka.

Ofsted will next week place five schools in Birmingham in special measures in response to the Trojan Horse plot allegations. A sixth school was already in special measures when inspectors visited.

Crispin Blunt, the former prisons minister, said on Radio's Today programme the row between May and Gove stemmed from the fact that Gove had been holding the security establishment (ie men like Charles Farr) to account “from a neo-con point of view, asking some pretty hard questions” about the government’s security programme.

The role that Gove plays, said Blunt, “is to road test what the security establishment is doing to make sure we are properly protected. That is how the Prime Minister is using him.

"What the Home Office are gently pointing out to DfE is that if you are going to drain the swamp, you are going to get engaged in a very fundamental change of approach including addressing issues of oversight of our whole schools system. They are pointing out that is utterly impractical.”

May yesterday topped a poll of Tory party members asked who they would prefer as the next Tory leader (easily surpassing Boris Johnson, it should be noted).

It would be most unfortunate if her row with Gove over an issue of national security were to be seen as part of an effort to elbow her rivals out of the way, should David Cameron fall under a bus.

Gove and May this morning issued a joint statement saying they were "working together". Cue hollow laughter.

In the meantime, at least it gives the Westminster village something to talk about other than the plastic-bags-and-pensions Queen's Speech and Labour's new mantra that the coalition is now a "zombie government", out of ideas, with its mind on only one thing – the next general election.