HUMZA Yousaf has branded former home secretary Suella Braverman the “worst of politicians” after she claimed Islamist extremists are now controlling Britain in a Telegraph column.

Braverman said Britain is “sleepwalking into a ghettoised society” after Speaker Lindsay Hoyle admitted he was wrong to break with protocol on an SNP Opposition Day, which he claims was a result of security threats to MPs.

Hoyle has been left fighting for his job after scores of MPs have signed a no confidence motion in him, alleging he actually did Labour a political favour to allow them to avoid a huge rebellion.

After the SNP put forward a motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday, Hoyle decided to allow a Labour amendment to be debated as well as a Government one in a nearly unprecedented move that scuppered the opportunity for MPs to formally vote on the SNP's proposition.

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Hoyle – who has been accused of bowing to pressure from Labour leader Keir Starmer – said it was never his intention to cause the chaos that ensued in the Commons, adding that he was concerned about MPs’ safety.

The Speaker has denied he was threatened, as has Starmer.

Writing in the Telegraph, Braverman accused Starmer of “being in hock” to extremists and “taking the Speaker hostage” with a “grubby backroom deal”.

She said: "The truth is that the Islamists, the extremists, and the antisemites are in charge now.

"They have bullied the Labour Party, they have bullied our institutions, and now they have bullied our country into submission.”

In response, First Minister Yousaf accused Braverman of “deliberately stoking the fires of racial and religious tensions” for her own gain.

He posted on Twitter/X: “Suella Braverman is the worst of politicians.

“An individual who deliberately stokes the fires of racial and religious tensions for self-serving purposes, with no regard to the greater societal damage she is doing. The very definition of a scorched earth policy. Shameful.”

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Braverman accused politicians of "burying their heads in the sand", claiming they prefer to believe in an "illusion" of a successful multicultural society.

The former home secretary added: "But the law has not changed, mass extremism parades itself proudly, campuses remain dangerous places for Jews, and Labour is still rotten to the core."

Starmer has now been reported to the Privileges Committee by Alba MP Neale Hanvey over allegations he intimidated Hoyle. Starmer has only said that he "urged" the Speaker to include the Labour amendment.

Almost 70 MPs have signed the no confidence motion in Hoyle tabled by Conservative MP William Wragg, including SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.