THERESA MAY and Michael Gove desperately attempted to backtrack on any speculation of a row within the cabinet on the handling of Islamist extremism in schools yesterday.

The Home Secretary and Education Secretary took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement insisting they are “working together” on the issue after a letter from Ms May appeared to question Mr Gove’s efforts to address it.

In a letter to the Education Secretary, Ms May said concerns had been raised about the “inability” of local and central government to tackle the problem after allegations of a “Trojan horse” plot by hardline Islamists to seize control of Birmingham schools.

She also questioned whether Mr Gove’s department was warned about the allegations in 2010 and asked: “If so, why did nobody act?”

In December, the cross-government task force on tackling extremism and radicalism recommended a voluntary code of conduct to prevent children being exposed to “intolerant or extremist views” in religious “supplementary schools” providing lessons outside mainstream education.

But Ms May said the Birmingham allegations showed the potential need for a mandatory code.