James Cleverly promises to praise police in public

New Home Secretary James Cleverly has told UK police chiefs he will praise them in public and criticise them in private.

Mr Cleverly was addressing a major policing conference in London after taking up the role of home secretary this week.

Last week his predecessor, Suella Braverman, wrote an article in The Times accusing officers of "playing favourites" when policing protests.

Mrs Braverman was sacked on Monday.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Mr Cleverly said "I will push you, cajole you.

"I will back you when you do the right thing, and I want you to know that I will be critical if I think you need to be critical.

"But I will always attempt to do so professionally, calmly, directly so that we always maintain that professional working relationship.

"I think you can have a relationship that has challenge, and demands excellence and professionalism, without having to be in a relationship of conflict.

"The two are not inextricably linked. And that is why, you will know for those of you who have worked with me before, my instinct is always to praise in public, to criticise in private."

He went on to say: "We have a duty to the British people to work constructively together for their benefit."

Earlier Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told the senior officers that "the attacks on you by Suella Braverman were a total disgrace" and warned "a spiral of disrespect" cannot be allowed to develop between the government and the police.

Ms Cooper also called for a renewal in monitoring Islamophobic and antisemitic hate incidents due to increased tensions over the conflict in Gaza.

She said there should be a re-examination of the threshold for offences for stirring up hatred too.

• Suella Braverman's letter to Rishi Sunak in full

• Chris Mason: A 'direct, unflinching assault'

• Who is Suella Braverman?

Counter-protesters clashed with police in London's Parliament Square during a pro-Palestinian march last weekend

In her Times article, Mrs Braverman accused London's Metropolitan Police of applying a "double standard" to its policing of recent pro-Palestinian protests.

She claimed aggressive right-wing protesters were "rightly met with a stern response", while "pro-Palestinian mobs" were "largely ignored".

She claimed there was "violence around the fringes" as well as "highly offensive" chants, posters and stickers at the protests, which began last month in response to Israel's military action in Gaza.

Her comments were condemned by former police officers and MPs across party lines.

It later emerged Mrs Braverman had defied a Downing Street request to make changes to the article.