Angela Merkel’s new government got off to a rocky start on Friday as the chancellor and her interior minister clashed publicly over the role of Islam in Germany society.

Horst Seehofer, who became interior minister this week under a coalition deal, used his first interview since taking office to declare “Islam does not belong in Germany”.

Mrs Merkel lost no time in slapping down the minister, telling a press conference: “Muslims are also part of Germany, and so their religion is just as much a part of Germany”.

Mr Seehofer’s controversial remarks echoed last year’s election slogans from the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which campaigned on an anti-Muslim platform.

But they were most clearly aimed as a broadside against Mrs Merkel, who famously declared “Islam belongs in Germany” in a 2015 press conference after opening the country’s borders to over 1 million asylum-seekers.

“Islam does not belong in Germany,” Mr Seehofer told Bild newspaper. “Germany is shaped by Christianity. That means not working on Sundays and celebrating religious holidays such as Easter, Pentecost and Christmas.