Michael Gove called The New York Times “useful idiots” after its podcast accused him of Islamophobia.
The levelling-up secretary hit back at the makers of The Trojan Horse Affair, which blamed prejudice against Muslims for a firm response to a supposed plot by extremists to infiltrate schools.
The series, released in January, was at times the most popular podcast in Britain, the US, Canada and Australia.
Gove was education secretary when the scandal broke in Birmingham. He took a robust approach to rooting out perceived religious extremism in the city’s state schools.
The affair began in 2014 when the city council received an anonymous letter outlining an alleged plot called Operation Trojan Horse. At the time The Times pointed out glaring errors in the letter, suggesting it was a fake, including a plot to oust a head teacher who had been removed 20 years earlier.
