Boris Johnson has been condemned today for comparing niqab-wearing women to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.
Boris Johnson has criticised Denmark’s burqa ban, saying that while he was opposed to banning the burqa, the garment is “oppressive and ridiculous”.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, he claimed that “it is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes.
“If a constituent came to my MP’s surgery with her face obscured, I should feel fully entitled – like Jack Straw – to ask her to remove it so that I could talk to her properly,” he added, “If a female student turned up at school or at a university lecture looking like a bank robber then ditto.”
Since his column has gone live, the former Foreign Secretary has come under fire for his comments.
Mohammed Amin, chair of the Conservative Muslim Forum, warned Buzzfeed News that such choice of language would be abused by the far right.
David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, wrote on Twitter: “Muslim women are having their burkas pulled off by thugs in our streets & Boris Johnson’s response is to mock them for “looking like letter boxes.”
“Our pound-shop Donald Trump is fanning the flames of Islamophobia to propel his grubby electoral ambitions.”
The Muslim Council of Britain put out a statement condemning Johnson’s words, stating that “we need responsibility and action from our politicians, not pandering to the far-right.
“His comments are particularly regrettable in this current climate, where Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred is becoming worryingly pervasive with disappointingly little action from this current government.
“Such crass commentary should have no place in our political discourse.”
Labour MP for Birmingham Lardley, Jess Phillips has promised to report Johnson to the Equality and Human Rights Commission: “I’d like to report Boris Johnson for refusing a service to someone based on at least two of the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act, 2010.”
This comes after recent news that Boris Johnson has held talks with Steve Bannon, Trump’s former top adviser.
Image courtesy of Chatham House, via Flickr.
> Borislava Todorova
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