A row has reportedly broken out between Suella Braverman and her former backer and junior minister Steve Baker over her remarks about child sexual abuse and grooming gangs.
Allies of Mr Baker, once a leading backbench Brexiteer and now a Northern Ireland minister, told The Guardian that he would not back the Home Secretary in any future leadership contest due to her language on grooming gangs.
Mr Baker, who declined to comment when contacted by PA news agency, had supported Ms Braverman when she ran to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader last summer.
But it appears that her comments earlier this year about grooming gangs and abuse have cost Ms Braverman his support.
The Home Secretary faced criticism in April after she singled out British Pakistani men over concerns about grooming gangs.
Ms Braverman, who alluded to high-profile cases including in Rotherham and Rochdale that involved groups of men of mainly Pakistani ethnicity, pointed to a “predominance of certain ethnic groups – and I say British Pakistani males – who hold cultural values totally at odds with British values, who see women in a demeaned and illegitimate way and pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach in terms of the way they behave”.
Her language was rebuked by some campaigners, while the NSPCC emphasised that an excessive focus on race could create new “blind spots”.
An ally of Mr Baker told the paper: “If she had said this is a problem predominantly carried out by white men in their own homes but that in some areas it was carried out by Pakistani men and covered up for political reasons that would have been fine.
“But she has heaped shame upon innocent men. It is not that she is stupid but that she is unwise.”
Previous Home Office-commissioned research found most group child sex offenders are men under the age of 30 and the majority are white, while adding there is not enough evidence to suggest members of grooming gangs are more likely to be Asian or black than other ethnicities.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Home Secretary has been clear that all despicable child abusers must be brought to justice.
“And she will not shy away from telling hard truths, particularly when it comes to the grooming of young women and girls in Britain’s towns who have been failed by authorities over decades.
“As the Home Secretary has said, the vast majority of British-Pakistanis are law-abiding, upstanding citizens but independent reports were unequivocal that in towns like Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford cultural sensitivities have meant thousands of young girls were abused under the noses of councils and police.
“That’s why we have announced a raft of measures, including a new police taskforce and mandatory reporting, to ensure this horrific scandal can never happen again, and bring members of grooming gangs to justice for the victims.”
