Boris Johnson under pressure to apologize for burqa comments

(CNN)Britain's Prime Minister has rebuked her former top diplomat -- and a potential leadership challenger -- for insulting remarks he made about Muslim women wearing burqas.

Theresa May called out former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson over the comments, in which he compared women who choose to wear the conservative Islamic dress to "letter boxes" and "bank robbers."

Johnson was earlier told to apologize by Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis for the remarks, made in a newspaper column about Denmark's burqa ban. He has yet to do so.

"It is very clear that the language that Boris Johnson used to describe people's appearance has caused offense," May said. "It's not language I would have used and I think he was wrong to have used that language, and I agree with Brandon Lewis."

Sayeeda Warsi, a former foreign secretary under David Cameron who has long been a critic of Islamophobia within the Tory party, said this week that Muslim women "should not be a political football to increase your popularity ratings amongst the Tory faithful."

A Conservative member of the House of Lords, Warsi has repeatedly called for a full inquiry into Islamophobia within the party, similar to the extensive one being undertaken by the opposition Labour Party after allegations of antisemitism within the party's ranks.

 

 

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Hear Parliament react as May thanks Johnson 

Islamaphobia 'no longer' fringe

The Tories, as the ruling Conservative party is known, have also been criticized by members of the UK's Muslim community, including by Mohammed Mahmoud, a London Iman praised as a hero after stopping violence in the wake of an attack on Finsbury Park mosque.

"Islamophobia no longer simmers under the surface of the fringes of society," Mahmoud wrote this week in the British press. "Yet, despite the rising scale and severity of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred, the response from the Government has been lackluster, or worse, in denial."

Labour shadow equalities minister Naz Shah reiterated Mahmoud's comments in a letter to her government counterpart and Lewis, adding that Johnson's comments were "particularly troubling in light of the revelations (he) has recently been communicating with Steve Bannon."

News Courtesy: www.cnn.com