Michael Gove has defended cabinet colleague Suella Braverman’s controversial reappointment, describing her as a “first-rate, front rank politician”.

Ms Braverman was forced to resign under Liz Truss’s government after she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP and copied in another MP by mistake.

New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure over reinstating her as home secretary just six days later, after a former party chair claimed she had committed “multiple breaches” of the ministerial code.

Mr Gove told Sophy Ridge on Sunday that Ms Braverman was a “valued member of the cabinet” who “acknowledged a mistake had been made”.

“Suella is a first-rate, front-rank politician,” he said.

“She acknowledged that a mistake had been made. She is working hard in order to ensure that our borders can be made more secure, and that policing is more effective.

“She’s a valued member of the cabinet and someone whom I admire and like.”

Mr Gove, the levelling up secretary, also dismissed a report that Ms Braverman ignored legal advice over the situation at Manston, the migrant processing centre in Kent where conditions have been described as “wretched”.

According to the Sunday Times, the home secretary has been warned that detaining asylum seekers there for long periods of time was breaking the law.

Mr Gove said Ms Braverman “did not ignore or dismiss” legal advice.

But he acknowledged the situation at Manston “is not perfect”, adding: “It’s absolutely vital that we process people as quickly as possible and keep them in humane conditions”.