CHANCELLOR George Osborne confirmed yesterday that Education Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Theresa May are under investigation for their public infighting over Islamic extremism in schools.

Mr Osborne said that Prime Minister David Cameron had asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to subject the pair to scrutiny.

The dispute spilled into the public domain with the publication of a letter in which Ms May questioned the Department for Education’s response to allegations that extremists had attempted to infiltrate schools in Birmingham.

Confirming the investigation, Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The Prime Minister has asked Downing Street — and that includes the Cabinet Secretary — to establish the facts of who said what to whom.

“We absolutely don’t want a distraction from the central issue here, an issue which the government is absolutely united on and which listeners to this programme I’m sure are concerned about, which is the infiltration of schools by Islamic extremists.

“That is what we have got to solve, that is the big issue here, and all of our efforts are focused on that.”

Mr Cameron had faced embarrassing questions on the row during a press conference with US President Barack Obama at the G7 summit in Brussels on Thursday, when he said he was determined to “get to the bottom” of the issue.

Reports suggest that the pair clashed over Mr Gove’s insistence that radicalisation must be tackled by stepping up the controversial Prevent strategy, which Ms May is believed to fear risks antagonising communities.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “This row between Theresa May and Michael Gove isn’t just about chaotic government, it shows a much more serious failure by David Cameron’s government to develop a joint plan to prevent extremism.”