CATHOLIC and Anglican schools are not producing "Christian jihadists" and Ofsted should put itself in special measures for its treatment of top performing faith schools, a Tory MP has said.

Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough), a prominent Catholic member of the Commons, said last year's rules on teaching British values, introduced in the wake of the so-called "trojan horse" scandal at some schools in Birmingham, may have been introduced in a knee jerk way.

It emerged last year several schools in the city had been infiltrated by people promoting an extremist Islamic agenda.

The MP said any suggestion Christian schools were producing extremists was offensive, adding a "staggering" number of the country's top schools were faith schools.

But he told the Commons: "Far from preaching intolerance, these schools because of their strong, unifying, religious ethos do more for social cohesion than a 1,000 Home Office initiatives."

Redcar Lib Dem MP Ian Swales said two of the schools Sir Edward mentioned as undergoing aggressive Ofsted inspections, including the Durham Free School, had been teaching creationism in science lessons.

Intervening on Sir Edward, Mr Swales said: "For the sake of completeness, I think you ought to mention that both the North-East schools you've been using examples (of) were found to be teaching creationism as fact in science and biology."

Sir Edward replied: "That is not what I have been told."

The intervention comes days after leaders of the Durham Free School admitted defeated in their battle to save it from closure.

Durham Free School (DFS) has been facing the axe since a damning Ofsted report led Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to announce she intended to withdraw its funding, back in late January.

Despite a strong campaign from parents, teachers and pupils, Ms Morgan confirmed her intention in late February.

DFS leaders had refused to give up, threatening legal action.

However, in a statement issued at the weekend, the school said it would not pursue a judicial review and will close at Easter.