British Lawmaker In Trouble Over Burka Jibe

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is facing growing criticism over his remark that Muslim women wearing the burka “look like letter boxes”.

Dominic Grieve, the ex-attorney general, said he would quit the party if Mr Johnson became leader.

Ex-Tory chairwoman Baroness Warsi said Mr Johnson’s remarks could trigger a rise in hate crime.

Senior Tories have urged him to apologise but he has not done so, and has stood by his comments.

In a Daily Telegraph article, he said full-face veils should not be banned, but it was “absolutely ridiculous” women chose to “go around looking like letter boxes”. He also compared them to looking like “bank robbers”.

A source close to the former London mayor has said: “We must not fall into the trap of shutting down the debate on difficult issues.

“We have to call it out. If we fail to speak up for liberal values then we are simply yielding ground to reactionaries and extremists.”

But, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, Mr Grieve – a former Remain campaigner who has previously clashed with Mr Johnson over Brexit – said his behaviour was “very embarrassing”.

Mr Grieve said he would “without the slightest doubt”, quit the Tories if Mr Johnson became leader, “because I don’t regard him as a fit and proper person to lead a political party”.The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, has also backed calls for an apology over what she called “gratuitously offensive” comments.

Speaking at an event in North Berwick, East Lothian, she said: “This wasn’t an off-the-cuff slip, he wrote a column, he knew exactly what he was doing and I think it crossed from being provocative and starting a debate and actually it became rude and gratuitous.

“It’s also not been shown through history that when men make sweeping statements about what women should or shouldn’t wear that it goes well for them.

“I think he should apologise for them.”Earlier Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said there was no reason not to have a “robust conversation” about the subject, but added: “We’re not talking to our friends in the pub. We are public figures and we have an additional obligation to be careful.”

A former Tory chairman, Lord Pickles, said Mr Johnson, who was foreign secretary until resigning last month over Brexit, risked “closing down” the debate with his “illiberal language”.

Supporters of Mr Johnson say the row is politically-motivated and that other senior Tories have made similar remarks without such criticism.

Comments

Discover more from The Reflector News

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading