Top ministers urged Priti Patel to stop attacks on 'activist lawyers'

The home secretary's rhetoric targeting the legal profession continued despite warnings that it led to violence

Home secretary Priti Patel ignored warnings from at least two senior colleagues to stop targeting immigration lawyers after a knifeman threatened to kill a solicitor last month in an attack linked to her rhetoric, the Observer can reveal.

Lord chancellor Robert Buckland and attorney general Suella Braverman intervened after the attack to tell Patel that her targeting of the legal profession was already believed to have inspired an incident that might have left a solicitor dead.