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Boris Johnson to face investigation over burka comments
Boris Johnson is facing a Conservative Party investigation into comments he made comparing Muslim women in burkas to letterboxes and bank robbers.
He faces claims that he broke the party’s code of conduct with the remarks he made in an article for the Daily Telegraph.
It is understood that the process is being triggered automatically after the receipt of a number of complaints over the former foreign secretary’s comparison of Muslim women in face-covering veils with bank robbers or letter boxes.
The party declined to comment on the disciplinary procedure.
A spokesman said only: “The code of conduct process is strictly confidential.”
The former foreign secretary has faced a storm of criticism, with Theresa May calling on him to apologise.
But today a prominent imam spoke out in support of Mr Johnson.
Taj Hargey, the imam at Oxford Islamic Congregation, has lent his support to Mr Johnson, saying he ‘did not go far enough’ and ‘should not apologise for telling the truth’.
In a letter written to The Times Mr Hargey, who has spoken out in the past against Muslim-only schools and gender segregation in mosques, said that Islamic face coverings have ‘no Koranic legitimacy’.
‘The burka and niqab are hideous tribal ninja-like garments that are pre-Islamic, non-Koranic and therefore un-Muslim,’ he said.
‘Johnson did not go far enough. If Britain is to become a fully integrated society then it is incumbent that cultural practices, personal preferences and communal customs that aggravate social division should be firmly resisted.
‘For this reason Britain must emulate France, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria and Denmark in banning the burka.’
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Mr Johnson has resisted calls to say sorry after writing in his Daily Telegraph column that face coverings are ‘ridiculous’ and ‘weird’, and that women who wear them look like bank robbers and letter boxes.
He also argued against banning burkas and niqabs in the UK in the piece.
Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis called on him to say sorry after a flurry of criticism, supported by the Prime Minister.
Mrs May said: ‘I do think that we all have to be very careful about the language and terms we use.
‘And some of the terms Boris used describing people’s appearance obviously have offended. So I agree with Brandon Lewis.’
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson backed calls for an apology today, calling Mr Johnson’s column “gratuitously offensive”.
‘I think that this wasn’t an off-the-cuff slip, he wrote a column, he knew exactly what he was doing and I think it crossed from being provocative and starting a debate and actually it became rude and gratuitous,’ said Ms Davidson.
