Utter madness of this toxic Boris inquiry

IS the Conservative party hell-bent on tearing itself apart? The Mail asks this question today because the assault on Boris Johnson by the Tory high command carries the very real risk of plunging the party into a calamitous civil war.

In normal times, the ex-foreign secretary’s flippant (some would say tasteless) joke about women in burkas looking like ‘letter boxes’ or ‘bank robbers’ would have created little controversy beyond the witless echo chamber of Twitter.

After all, Mr Johnson’s irreverent brand of humour is hardly new, nor did it stop him ascending to one of the great offices of state. And, like the good Conservative he is, he was actually defending the right of Muslim women to wear the veil if they wanted to.

So this was never more than a concocted, silly-season row, fuelled by the faux outrage of Mr Johnson’s political enemies.

Then yesterday, just as it was fizzling out, Tory chairman Brandon Lewis put a nuclear charge under it by announcing that Mr Johnson would be investigated by the party for failing to ‘foster tolerance and respect’. In effect, he stands accused of racism.

This is the man who won two elections as mayor of arguably the most culturally diverse city in the world. He has made speeches on the benefits of immigration. His grandfather was a Muslim Turk, his stepmother is Jewish and he was born in New York. The charge is simply risible.

But this is about far more than a bad joke about burkas. It’s a proxy war against the favourite to succeed Theresa May as party leader – a prospect that fills Remain supporting MPs and ministers with dread. They’re determined to stop Boris – at any price.

Anyone who doubts this need only look at what his main accusers have said previously about the burka. Tory Remainers Anna Soubry and Ken Clarke, and even Labour bigwigs like London mayor Sadiq Khan, have criticised it as ‘insidious’ or ‘peculiar’. Their attack on Mr Johnson is pure hypocrisy. And how Jeremy Corbyn (memorably described by Mr Johnson as ‘a muttonheaded mugwump’) must be rubbing his hands. Having been under intense pressure over the genuine scandal of Labour antiSemitism, these fake claims of Tory racism have let him off the hook.

Meanwhile, there’s no doubt whose side the Tory grassroots are on. Most regard Mr Johnson as their best hope for a clean Brexit and want him as leader. Some 95 per cent of letters to the Mail – many from Tory supporters and activists – are supportive of him.

So if this inquiry goes ahead, it risks creating a schism so deep that it could destroy Conservative hopes of winning the next election – handing power to Mr Corbyn’s gang of Marxist wreckers.

But this disaster can be averted. The investigation is still at the preliminary stage and could yet be thrown out before it is allowed to develop into a full-blown kangaroo court.

Whatever their feelings about Mr Johnson, the Mail passionately urges the Tory leadership to take this option. For the sake of their party and their country they must stop this lunacy now.