Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
VILLAIN IN THE VILLA & HIS VEIL OF SILENCE
Burka row Johnson lies low in Italy
BORIS Johnson is holed up in a luxury villa in Italy as he refuses to apologise for offending Muslims.
The former Foreign Secretary was sunning himself in the hideaway yesterday as the race row intensified.
The Tory MP is now the subject of an official investigation by the party.
And the row has plunged the Conservatives into a civil war.
Some claim party heavyweights are trying to use the dispute to ruin his leadership chances.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: “I don’t think that an internal party system should be there to shut down MPS when they speak.”
There have been dozens of complaints to the party about Mr Johnson comparing Muslim women who wear burkas to letter boxes and bank robbers. Theresa May, Tory chairman Brandon Lewis and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson have urged Mr Johnson to apologise.
He has also been slated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said yesterday: “Boris Johnson’s use of language in this instance, which risks dehumanising and vilifying Muslim women, is inflammatory and divisive.” The complaints to the Tory Party are being looked at by an internal team.
Ultimately, the investigation can be passed to the party’s board, which has the power to suspend members or even kick them out.
It has emerged that after being told via a phone call from London that a probe is under way, Mr Johnson remained “relaxed” and dived into the pool at his villa.
Tory peer Lord Sheikh, who is a Muslim, has revealed he received vile Islamophobic messages after calling for Mr Johnson to be sacked for his comments.
Lord Sheikh said that of 75 emails he was sent on the issue, 15 were complimentary but the rest included “offensive language” and “horrible, obscene things about the Prophet Muhammad”. Comedy star Rowan Atkinson has weighed into the row by calling Mr Johnson’s burka remarks a “pretty good” joke.
A source close to Mr Johnson declined to comment on the investigation.
A Tory spokesman said: “The code of conduct process is strictly confidential.”
OF EQUALITY WATCHDOG