A row has erupted over Home Secretary Suella Braverman's attack on the Metropolitan Police over its handling of pro-Palestinian protests.
Writing in The Times, Ms Braverman accused the force of applying a "double standard" to its policing of protests.
The Met Police has said there are no grounds to ban a pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day this Saturday.
Rishi Sunak called the force's chief into Downing Street to say it would be held accountable if there was trouble.
Following the meeting, Ms Braverman wrote an article in the Times, claiming that there was "a perception that senior officers play favourites when it comes to protesters".
The home secretary said the pro-Palestinian marches, which began last month in response to Israel's siege of Gaza, had been "problematic" because of "violence around the fringes" as well as "highly offensive" chants, posters and stickers.
"Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law," she wrote.
The article has been widely condemned by former police officers and MPs, with opposition parties and some Conservatives calling for her to be sacked as home secretary.
One senior Conservative MP told the BBC: "The home secretary's awfulness is now a reflection on the prime minister. Keeping her in post is damaging him."
But the home secretary's allies on the right on the party have defended her and argued that the pro-Palestinian march should not have been allowed to go ahead.
Conservative MP Danny Kruger denied she was interfering, and said she was entitled to comment on the "broader culture of police".
There have been regular protests in London after Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, killing more than 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
Israel has been carrying out strikes on Gaza since then in response, and has now also launched a ground offensive. More than 10,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
London's police force has faced increasing pressure to prevent Saturday's pro-Palestinian march from going ahead.
But Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said it may only be stopped if there is a threat of serious disorder, and that the "very high threshold" has not been reached.
Following their talks on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said the planned protest on Armistice Day was "not just disrespectful but offends our heartfelt gratitude to the memory of those who gave so much so that we may live in freedom and peace today".
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The row between the government and the Metropolitan Police had appeared to be cooling, with the prime minister accepting that Saturday's march could go ahead.
But following Ms Braverman's article, it is more intense than ever, fuelling discontent within the Conservative Party and putting pressure on the prime minister.
Plenty of the home secretary's colleagues agree with her on the substance, but they are frustrated by repeatedly having to defend - or distance themselves from - her rhetoric.
One government figure told the BBC Mrs Braverman's intervention was "unhinged".
Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a "dangerous attempt to undermine respect for police", while London mayor Sadiq Khan said it was "irresponsible".
"The PM's weakness when it comes to standing up to Suella is the most shocking thing in all this," claimed a senior Labour source.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Sunak "must finally act with integrity by sacking his out-of-control home secretary".
"Suella Braverman is now putting police officers in harm's way ahead of far right protesters flocking to the capital this weekend," Sir Ed said.
Dal Babu, a former Met chief superintendent, said Mrs Braverman's comments would cause "huge problems and difficulties for police".
He said her remarks demonstrated the "increasing politicisation of policing", and how the march is handled should be an operational matter for officers.
In her article, Ms Braverman wrote that she believed the marches were not "merely a cry for help for Gaza", but an "assertion of primacy by certain groups - particularly Islamists - of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland".
A source close to the home secretary told the BBC the comment was a reference to the activities of "dissident republicans".
Responding to the article, one Conservative Party source called the comparison with Northern Ireland "wholly offensive and ignorant".
Ms Braverman also questioned why "lockdown objectors were given no quarter by public order police yet Black Lives Matters demonstrators were enabled, allowed to break rules".
The home secretary wrote: "Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law?
"I have spoken to serving and former police officers who have noted this double standard."
Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries claimed Ms Braverman was trying to get sacked to give her a platform of martyrdom in service of the right-wing.
"The competition is on now for who is going to be the leader of the opposition," Ms Dorries told the BBC.
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2023-11-09 09:42:21Z
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