SPINELESS
No apology from scheming Johnson in burka row... but weak May won’t give him the boot
RUDE Boris
THERESA May last night refused to axe Boris Johnson despite him snubbing an order to apologise for his burka insults.
She was branded weak by Labour’s Naz Shah, who said: “The PM is in denial.”
It speaks volumes about Theresa May’s weakness that she sat silent for over 24 hours NAZ SHAH LABOUR MP ON PM’S FAILURE TO SUSPEND MR JOHNSON
THE Tories were last night plunged into open warfare over Boris Johnson’s rant aimed at Muslim women.
Theresa May yesterday backed an order for the former Foreign Secretary to say sorry for comparing women wearing burkas or niqabs to “bank robbers” and “letter boxes”.
But no apology came from Mr Johnson and the dithering PM was branded weak after refusing to suspend him over his remarks.
The row came as it was revealed Mr Johnson has been reported to police for the comments and could face a criminal probe.
Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis said: “I have asked Boris Johnson to apologise.”
After her initial silence on the matter, Mrs May finally said on a visit to Scotland: “We all have to be very careful about the language we use.
“And some of the terms Boris used describing people’s appearance obviously have offended. So I agree with Brandon Lewis.” But Labour MP Naz Shah laid into the PM for not axing Mr Johnson over the fiasco.
She said: “It speaks volumes about Theresa May’s weakness that she sat silent for over 24 hours on Boris Johnson’s Islamophobic comments and then refused to condemn them for what they are, promoting anti-Muslim hatred.
“Clearly the Prime Minister is in denial. Asking he apologises is not enough. She needs to order an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in her party and take action against Boris Johnson for seemingly breaking the party Code of Conduct. His comments weren’t accidental, they were a calculated attack.”
Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said of the remarks by his old boss: “I would never have made such a comment, I think there is a degree of offence in that.” Former Tory chair Baroness Warsi accused Mr Johnson of adopting “dog-whistle” tactics to attract support for a leadership bid. The peer added: “Muslim women should not be a useful political battleground for Old Etonians. It must stop. It must be condemned from the Prime Minister down.” But a source close to Mr Johnson said: “It is ridiculous these views are being attacked. We must not fall into the trap of shutting down the debate on difficult issues.” Mr Johnson was reported to police by Sharmin Akther, who accused him of “spreading hate crime”. The Muslim Council of Britain said Mr Johnson’s comments in a newspaper column appeared to “pander to the far right”. It also asked if Tory MP Nadine Dorries would be spoken to by Mr Lewis after she said the remarks on burkas “did not go far enough”. She backs a ban on the garments.
BORIS Johnson’s failure to apologise for his Islamophobic remarks about Muslim women tells us everything we need to know about the man behind the mask.
On the surface, to many people the former Foreign Secretary is a harmless ape, wildly swinging from one scrape to another.
His acts – though often outrageous, sometimes dangerous and occasionally harmful – are too often dismissed as acceptable gaffes made by a political monkey. But this was not a gaffe, a slip of the tongue. Mr Johnson’s comments were deliberate and grotesque. His wilful use of such sickeningly provocative language was designed only to inflame and incite hatred. His mask has slipped. Naturally, we welcome condemnation by Theresa May and party chairman Brandon Lewis but now we must see action.
If the repugnant Mr Johnson continues to refuse to apologise, Mrs May must fling him out of the Tory party.
Failure to stand up to him will cement her reputation as the weakest ever Prime Minister and send a terrible message to UK Muslims.