Suella Braverman row: Leaked messages reveal scale of civil war between Tory MPs over policing of pro-Palestinian marches and home secretary's behaviour

Suella Braverman and Tory critics of the police are undermining public confidence in law enforcement and eroding trust in Britain's system of democracy, according to heated WhatsApp exchanges among Conservative MPs leaked to Sky News.

The true scale of the civil war between Tory MPs over the policing of pro-Palestinian marches and behaviour of the home secretary is tonight revealed in dozens of private messages between them which lift the lid on a far greater scale of discontent in the party than is currently playing out in public.

The heated WhatsApp debate has led to angry exchanges between figures who both back and oppose Ms Braverman, with some accusing her Tory critics of helping Labour, while others are accused of inflaming the far right.

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In one exchange, the Tory MP Karl McCartney attacked Bob Neill, the Tory MP who went public with his criticism of Mrs Braverman, saying he and other critics of the home secretary would be getting Christmas cards from the Labour shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper.

"You stretch our patience," Mr McCartney declared.

On the other side of the debate, Jackie Doyle-Price said that Tory MPs should not ignore the fact there is a legitimate right to protest and added: "Colleagues making noise about them are simply advertising them and make them bigger as a consequence."

Danny Kruger, the socially conservative MP and strong backer of Ms Braverman, weighed in firmly behind the home secretary.

He said it was entirely legitimate for the government and Tory MPs to comment on how the police operate.

"Ofc [of course] if they did enforce the law - eg against face coverings or racist changes - there would be serious disorder, and so they'd have a reason to request a ban. The only way to avoid disorder is to tolerate the intolerable, to allow the illegal."

He said that it was no longer enough to have a "quiet word" with the police when there were issues and instead advocated for "proper challenge".

The veteran Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin made a firm intervention in the group against public criticism by Conservatives of the police, receiving support from a number of his colleagues.

Sir Bernard, who has been a Tory MP since 1992, asked colleagues if he was the only one "who thinks it is it most unfortunate that the chief of Met Police is being placed under pressure from the government, which threatens to compromise public confidence in his operational independence?"

It comes following Ms Braverman's explosive article in The Times on Wednesday, in which she accused the Met Police of having "double standards" on how it policed protests.

The testy exchange began when Jackie Doyle-Price, who served in government under David Cameron and Theresa May, argued with Sir John Hayes about whether protesting is a right or allowed.

Sir John is an arch-backer of Ms Braverman.

He said it was "so sad to see protests being allowed on the Remembrance weekend".

Sir John said it was "wholly inappropriate" - and called on colleagues to "speak for the law-abiding, patriotic majority by saying so".

Ms Doyle-Price emphasised protesting was a right and not something to be "allowed".

Some of those siding with Sir John included Danny Kruger, Michael Fabricant, Jill Mortimer and Mr McCartney.

William Wragg agreed with Sir Bernard, as did Ms Doyle-Price, Tim Loughton and Mr Neill.

"I've had enough of this rubbish", William Wragg said following the debate.

This was preceded by a warning not to conduct this discussion on WhatsApp because "some colleagues are untrustworthy disgraceful leakers".

The messages leaked to Sky News are from a Tory MP WhatsApp group and were sent yesterday and today.

Ms Doyle-Price advised MPs to "express their views to whips and to the home secretary directly", while Ms Mortimer warned about colleagues leaking messages sent on WhatsApp.

SOURCE: SKYNEWS