Tory MPs are in an even more fractious mood than usual following Suella Braverman’s article in the Times. No. 10 has now clarified that while Rishi Sunak has full confidence in Braverman, the article was not cleared by Downing Street. As Katy Balls explains here, the Home Secretary does seem to be pushing the limits of what Downing Street will accept.

There is also considerable impatience among MPs with No 10. I’ve been shown WhatsApp messages from the Home Office group this morning where MPs have been demanding clarity from Braverman’s special advisers and Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPSs) on whether the piece was indeed cleared by No 10. Kit Malthouse in particular has been repeatedly asking for answers – only to get details from other colleagues rather than the Home Office team. The new No. 10 line is that they are looking into the details of what happened.

Tory MPs warned me last night that the party is heading for another period of open warfare between factions

MPs have been particularly anxious about what the official line is now that the Speaker has granted an urgent question to shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper. They want to know whether Downing Street is going to stick by Braverman or if this is the beginning of the end of her tenure.

That question is being asked not just by those who are furious about the Times article, but also by those who very much support the Home Secretary but fear the Prime Minister isn’t going to back her. Sunak’s language in his own statement after the meeting with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley yesterday was significantly calmer than his earlier clip about the marches in London being ‘disrespectful’. This has made Conservative MPs more suspicious about the dynamic between PM and Home Secretary.

Even before Braverman’s article was published, Tory MPs were warning me last night that the party is heading for another period of open warfare between factions. One described it to me as a ‘clear split coming between sound and one nation’. That will be interesting for Braverman’s own Home Office colleague Tom Tugendhat, very much a One Nation Tory (and also someone who has previously pointed out to colleagues that a quirk of his job as security minister is that he is responsible to the Prime Minister rather than the Home Secretary).

One Nation MPs think Braverman is trying to get sacked: one adds ‘and I hope she succeeds’. Meanwhile those closer to Braverman’s persuasion think she’s just trying to get the party line into the right place, holding Sunak to account, to use his own language about his meeting with Rowley. There’s an unholy amount of pushing around going on at the top of the party.