A government source told the Guardian: “Rishi Sunak has asked Suella Braverman to leave government and she has accepted.”

Her dismissal is expected to form part of a wider reshuffle of Sunak’s team ahead of a general election expected next year. Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, and Steve Barclay, the health secretary, believed to be also likely to go, the Guardian reported.

Sunak was under growing pressure to fire Braverman, a divisive figure popular with the authoritarian wing of the governing Conservative Party.

It is the second time Braverman has been forced out of the same job in little more than a year. Liz Truss ordered her to resign in October last year after weeks in the job, for sending confidential information to an MP from a private email address.

The direct trigger for the sacking was an unauthorized article for Thursday’s Times, in which Braverman claimed there was “a perception that senior police officers play favorites when it comes to protesters” and were tougher on rightwing extremists than pro-Palestinian “mobs”.

She also described demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in Gaza as “hate marchers.”

Braverman was blamed by police and the Labour Party for helping inflame tensions resulting in far-right groups battling police in London on Saturday.

Some officers told the Guardian Braverman’s claims of bias were a significant factor in “sustained” far-right attacks on members of the force.

On Sunday, in her first public pronouncement since the violence, Braverman made no comment on claims her rhetoric had inflamed tensions, instead demanding “further action” against pro-Palestine marches.