SUELLA BRAVERMAN was accused by a television presenter today of “inflaming” racists after reportedly telling officers who seized several golliwogs from an Essex pub that they had wasted their time.

Officers took several of the dolls from the White Hart Inn in Grays on April 4, as part of an investigation into an alleged hate crime reported last month.

In a heated exchange with Transport Secretary Mark Harper, Good Morning Britain’s (GMB) Adil Ray said that he had received online abuse following the reports and that the Home Secretary was the reason.

He asked Mr Harper: “Do you think it’s right that she’s inflamed racists and I’m getting this abuse?

“I wasn’t getting it before two weeks ago, Mr Harper. I wasn’t getting all these pictures of golliwogs.

“Why am I getting them now?”

The minister said he did not think people should display the dolls and suggested it was “not helpful” for ministers to “second-guess” police operations.

Senior Tory peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was among the public figures who hit out at what she described as “racist rhetoric” from Ms Braverman earlier in the week following the reports.

Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (Barac) co-founder Zita Holbourne told the Star: “Suella Braverman suggesting she cannot see any harm in the golliwog is extremely irresponsible as it essentially endorses and legitimises racism, racist tropes and the historic atrocities and their legacies faced by black communities.

“These ‘dolls’ have no place in our times and should not be tolerated by anyone. They are offensive, triggering and vile.

“Braverman’s comments fuels racism and strengthens those who hold racist views to express them and act upon them.”