Disturbingly Orwellian ... a witch hunt ... and no, Boris ISN’T racist
As Johnson faces a Tory probe into the burka row, Mail readers — with quiet fury — deliver one of our biggest mailbags ever to give their withering response
TORY activists last night mounted a furious revolt after Conservative chiefs launched disciplinary proceedings against Boris Johnson over his burka comments.
Grassroots supporters and association chairmen accused the Party’s high-command of orchestrating a ‘witch hunt’ to ‘finish off’ the former foreign secretary.
Rank-and-file members demanded the investigation be dropped immediately, amid warnings that any action against Mr Johnson could backfire and bring down Theresa May.
Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis – who earlier this week called on Mr Johnson to apologise – last night stepped back from running the probe after accusations he was orchestrating a ‘kangaroo court’ and acting as ‘Mrs May’s thug’.
Sources close to Mr Lewis claimed Tory Party rules meant it had no choice but to launch a probe after it received a number of complaints over Mr Johnson’s remarks.
The former London mayor had compared Muslim women wearing the burka to letter boxes and bank robbers in a newspaper column on Monday. But last night the party faithful said the move to launch a formal probe had re-ignited a row that had already been allowed to drag on for too long.
Ed Costelloe, chairman of Grassroots Conservatives, an independent activist group, said the disciplinary action was a ‘witch hunt’ against Mr Johnson.
‘Some people felt that his words were a little bit rude and provocative, but there is a lot of feeling that this is being built up to finish off Boris,’ he said.
‘I’m disappointed that Brandon Lewis has let this go on, but he is representing the party machine and the party machine does not like Boris.’
Delyth Miles, a local councillor and former constituency chair in Essex, warned the probe could be seen as ‘vindictive’, adding: ‘I am deeply disappointed that this is blowing out of all proportion and I fear for the future of the party.
‘I don’t think his comments were bad. I am sad that the Prime Minister and party chairman have decided to make it an issue. Taking the action they have could be inflammatory and cause internal turmoil that backfires on them.’
David Goldson, chairman of South Norfolk constituency association, said the decision was ‘highly regrettable’.
‘It’s gone much too far,’ he said. ‘They should let it all go away. I think it’s a whole load of nonsense from beginning to end.’
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘I believe the public will see this for what it is – an internal Conservative party witch hunt instigated by No 10 against Boris Johnson, who they see as a huge threat. They want to humiliate and destroy him.’ Under the Tory Party code of conduct, an investigating officer will now decide if the complaints should be looked into by a disciplinary panel.
Members would normally be appointed by the chairman, but Mr Lewis last night said he would not do so on this occasion.
If a panel is formed, it will judge if Mr Johnson has breached the code, which includes a requirement that holders of public office should ‘lead by example to encourage and foster respect tolerance’. If Mr Johnson is found at fault, he could face suspension or even expulsion.
Last night a source close to Mr Lewis, who backed Remain, denied accusations he was pursuing an anti-Brexit agenda.
‘It is not personal and it has nothing to do with Brexit, it is simply the same rules that apply to everyone,’ they said. ‘It is not unusual for the chairman not to be involved in code of conduct complaints involving MPs.’
Mr Johnson, who is on holiday, yesterday declined to comment. But an ally said: ‘Nobody will have confidence in it. Brandon Lewis is digging a deeper hole.’
It came as 100 Muslim women who wear a burka or niqab sent a letter to Mr Lewis backing calls for action against Mr Johnson.
The letter, obtained by Sky News, said: ‘Given a deliberate choice was made to inflame tensions in a way which makes it easier for bigots to justify hate crimes against us, we concur with the Conservative peer Lord Sheikh who has demanded that the whip be withdrawn from Mr Johnson.’
It added that following concerns from MPs and the Muslim Council of Britain ‘there must now be an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party to tackle this issue once and for all’.
IS the Conservative Party really determined to tear itself apart? The Mail asks this troubling question today because the co-ordinated assault on Boris Johnson by the Tory high command carries with it the very real risk of plunging the party into a calamitous civil war.
In normal times, the former foreign secretary’s flippant (many would say tasteless) joke about women in burkas looking like ‘letter boxes’ or ‘bank robbers’ would have passed with little controversy beyond the witless echo chamber of the Twittersphere.
After all, Mr Johnson’s irreverent brand of humour is hardly new and didn’t stop him ascending to one of the great offices of state.
In this case, he was actually defending the right of Muslim women to wear the veil if they wanted to and stating his outright opposition to any form of ban.
So this is patently a concocted, silly season row, fuelled by the faux outrage of Mr Johnson’s political enemies.
Yet just as it was about to fizzle out, Tory chairman Brandon Lewis – presumably backed by Downing Street – supercharged it by announcing that Mr Johnson is to be investigated by his party for failing to ‘foster tolerance and respect’. In effect, he is being accused of racism.
This is the man who won two elections as Mayor of London, 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 step-mother is of Jewish ancestry and he was born in New York.
But this is about far more than a bad joke about burkas. It’s a proxy war against the bookies’ favourite to succeed Theresa May as party leader – and plays straight into Labour’s hands.
Just as Jeremy Corbyn was under intense pressure over the genuine scandal of antiSemitism in his own party, these fake claims of Tory racism allow him to wriggle off the hook.
By pursuing this inquiry, the Tories could ruin their chances of winning the next election and hand power to Mr Corbyn and his Marxist wreckers.