Boris under fire for niqab comments
UXBRIDGE MP CALLED ON TO APOLOGISE AFTER COMPARING WOMEN IN TRADITIONAL DRESS TO BANK ROBBERS
LABOUR MP Rupa Huq has hit back at Boris Johnson’s comments comparing women wearing the niqab to letter boxes, saying she was “appalled” that a “middle class, portly white man” was telling women what they should and shouldn’t wear.
It came as Labour politicians and constituents queued up to condemn Mr Johnson’s comments made in a Daily Telegraph column on Monday (August 6).
In the piece, the Uxbridge MP and former Foreign Secretary, Mr Johnson, also compared Muslim women in what he mistakenly called ‘burkas’ to bank robbers and rebellious teenagers, and said he would expect his constituents to remove face coverings when talking to him at his MP’s surgery.
Ealing MP Rupa Huq, whose parents came to the UK from Bangladesh in the 1960s, said: “Boris Johnson is not in a 1970s style ‘mind your language’ sitcom. He’s supposed to be a statesman and we’re in the 21st century. I’m not a fan of the burqa either but this quote is reprehensible on so many levels.
“I’m appalled at him, a middle class portly white man telling women what they should and shouldn’t wear. Here we have proof, if further proof were needed, that the Tories have a problem with Islamophobia.”
Peter Curling, leader of the Labour group in Hillingdon, said Mr Johnson should apologise to his constituents in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
He said: “It comes as no surprise that Boris Johnson has made yet another offensive, insensitive comment - but this time it is about Muslim women and what they freely choose to wear and how they practice their faith.
“This man was Foreign Secretary, responsible for diplomatic relations with other countries, and it probably did not even cross his mind that his comments were hurtful and derogatory.
“Our members in Uxbridge Labour will soon be looking to select their candidate to stand against him - someone who won’t feel uncomfortable talking to a constituent simply because of the clothes that they choose to wear. Someone who embraces diversity and works for all their constituents.”
In the column Mr Johnson wrote: “It is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes; and I thoroughly dislike any attempt by any – invariably male – government to encourage such demonstrations of ‘modesty.’”
He added that he felt fully entitled to expect women to remove face coverings when talking to him at his MP’s surgery in Uxbridge and said schools and universities should be able to take the same approach if a student “turns up … looking like a bank robber”.
Mr Johnson recently faced calls to resign as MP following his decision not to vote against plans to build a third runway when they were debated in Parliament.
However he resigned from his post as Foreign Secretary last month, soon after claiming he could not support Prime Minister Theresa May’s position on Brexit.
Mr Johnson has been reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.