Javid refuses to condemn Johnson’s Muslim comments

Chancellor Sajid Javid has refused to criticise the prime minister for his use of language to describe Muslim women.

Speaking on the campaign trail, Mr Javid struggled to explain Boris Johnson’s use of words like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers” to describe Muslim women wearing a veil, which he wrote in a column for The Telegraph newspaper last year.

It follows criticism of the Conservatives by the Muslim Council of Britain, which accused the party of “denial, dismissal and deceit” with regards to Islamophobia on the day that the UK’S Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warned Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to tackle anti-semitism made him unfit to be prime minister.

In an exchange with reporters, Mr Javid said the prime minister had “explained why he’s used that language”, adding the article “was to defend the rights of women, whether Muslim women and others to wear what they like, so he’s explained that and I think he’s given a perfectly valid explanation”.

On a visit to the International Aviation Academy in Norwich yesterday, Mr Johnson said he did not agree with the claim that his party had approached Islamophobia with “denial, dismissal and deceit”.

He added: “What we do in the Tory Party is when anybody is guilty of any kind of prejudice or discrimination against another group then they’re out first bounce.”

Mr Johnson said his party would hold an inquiry into “all forms of prejudice”.