Charlottesville: Sajid Javid criticises Donald Trump for again partly blaming anti-fascist protesters for the violence

'Neo-Nazis: bad. Anti-Nazis: good' tweet increases pressure on Theresa May to give her view

Sajid Javid is the first government minister to criticise Donald Trump's comments (Reuters)

A Cabinet minister has criticised Donald Trump after he again partly blamed anti-fascist protesters for the violence at a far-right march in Virginia.

Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, spoke out, just two days after Theresa May’s spokesman said the President’s remarks about the controversy were a “matter for him”.

“Neo-Nazis: bad. Anti-Nazis: good. I learned that as a child. It was pretty obvious,” Mr Javid tweeted.

The criticism will pile pressure on the Prime Minister to also speak out about the US President’s stance on the violence which left one protester dead and many others injured.

Ms May is also under growing pressure to officially cancel the planned state visit by Mr Trump, which has already been pushed back because of fears of mass protests.

The President sparked fresh outrage overnight when he again defended the far-right marchers at the Charlottesville rally, saying they were not all neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

Mr Trump claimed what he called the “alt-left” was equally to blame for the violence – just one day after, under pressure from advisers, he had finally condemned the far-right for what happened.

Rochdale-born Mr Javid, tipped as a future possible Tory leader, whose parents were Pakistani, is one of Britain’s most prominent ethnic minority politicians.

The Prime Minister may come under pressure to comment when she visits the HMS Elizabeth aircraft carrier today, in Portsmouth, having returned from her long walking holiday.

The Virginia march was organised to protest against the proposed removal of a statue of General Robert E Lee, who commanded the pro-slavery Confederate forces during the American Civil War.

It attracted far-right groups, some chanting white supremacist slogans as they held a torchlight parade through Charlottesville.

They were confronted by anti-racism groups. Heather Heyer was killed and 19 others injured when a car was driven deliberately into the protesters.

In his initial response, Mr Trump blamed the violence “on many sides”, but switched to condemning the white supremacists when told it was politically necessary to defuse the growing storm.

But, on Tuesday, at a rowdy press conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, the President appeared to revert to what he really thinks.

“You had a group on one side and group on the other and they came at each other with clubs. There is another side, you can call them the left, that came violently attacking the other group,” he said.

He then said: “You had people that were very fine people on both sides,” adding: “Not all those people were neo-Nazis, not all those people were white supremacists.”

The comments have drawn swift criticism, including from many leading figures in Mr Trump’s Republican party.

But they were welcomed by David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, who tweeted: “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists.”