Tories fear for image after Boris burqa jibe

He’s (Johnson) not a super human being, he’s a member of the party.

Mohamed Sheikh, member of the House of Lords

london — Senior Conservatives are once again battling against accusations of bigotry in Britain’s ruling party, after the outspoken former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson mocked the burqa and then refused to apologise.

Even as he argued against a ban on the burqa, worn by some Muslim women to conceal their face and body, Johnson said it was “absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes,” and that face coverings made the wearer resemble a “bank robber.”

The comments in Johnson’s Telegraph newspaper column triggered a fresh row over the Tory party’s commitment to equality and inclusiveness. It’s just months since the so-called Windrush affair, when it emerged immigrants with the right to live in the UK had been deprived of benefits or even deported.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright on Wednesday urged Johnson to choose his words more carefully, while Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood warned on Twitter that the comments put the Tories’ reputation at risk: “Now more than ever, we must communicate the integrity and inclusiveness of the Conservative Party,” he wrote.

Since he resigned in protest at

May’s Brexit plans last month, Johnson has been touted as a potential prime minister by those in the Conservative Party who want a harder departure from the European Union. But others see his comments as an example of why he would be a poor candidate.

Mohamed Sheikh, a member of the House of Lords and founder of the Conservative Muslim Forum, called for Johnson to be kicked out of the party. “Take the whip from him. Why not?” he told the BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ programme on Tuesday. “He’s not a super human being, he’s a member of the party.”

Dominic Grieve, a leading proEuropean lawmaker, said he’d quit the Conservative Party if Johnson becomes leader, saying he was embarrassed by the comments and doesn’t “regard him as a fit and proper person” to lead any political party.

“If he were to become leader of the party, I for one wouldn’t be in it,” Grieve, a former attorney-general, said in a interview with BBC Radio. “He seems to me to pursue an agenda which is entirely selfreferential, doesn’t take account of colleagues, he wasn’t able to observe cabinet responsibility when he was in government.” But Eric Pickles, a former communities secretary, said it was “pretty much inconceivable” that Johnson he would be thrown out — though he also criticised Johnson’s language, which he said went against efforts to make Muslim people feel British and improve cultural integration in the UK.

“I do believe my party has been slow in making contact and keeping alive the friendship with the Muslim community.”

Even so, Johnson’s remarks were “trivial” compared to the infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech by former Tory lawmaker Enoch Powell 50 years ago which incited racial hatred, Pickles said.

‘Weird and Bullying’ Johnson has declined to comment, but a person familiar with his views said on Tuesday he was speaking up for liberal values and stood by his words. In his column, Johnson wrote that it was “weird and bullying to expect women to cover their faces.” —