Mr Gove is on the CST's advisory board - a position that led the newspaper to criticise the education secretary for providing state funding for security at Jewish schools.

A CST spokesman said: "The Guardian story is misleading.

"The money provided by the Department for Education . . . is administered by CST and distributed to Jewish schools who then use it to employ their own security guards.

"CST does not keep any of the grant money. We remain grateful to the Department for Education and the secretary of state for providing this funding to alleviate the financial burden on Jewish parents, and we are proud of our role in helping this to take place."

The story was published on Friday on the newspaper's website.

Former education secretary Ed Balls, who is now shadow chancellor, tweeted his support for Mr Gove over the issue.

He wrote: "I've had many disagreements with Michael Gove, but on this one he's right. CST do a great job on security for Jewish schools."

The Department for Education announced in December that it would provide £2 million to fund security at Jewish schools.

Department representatives said they were "fully content that there was no conflict of interest".

A source close to Mr Gove told the Guido Fawkes blog: "It is unbelievable to attack any politician for funding the protection of Jewish children."

Following complaints, The Guardian issued a correction.

It stated: "All the money is distributed by the trust to the schools which then employ the security guards. As the trust's role is essentially administrative, none of the money is retained by the trust or pays for any of the trust's work."