Boris Johnson dismisses calls for burqa ban
Boris Johnson has questioned whether burqas should be allowed in British classrooms and courts, but stopped short of suggesting a ban altogether.
The debate into the full-face veil has reopened after terror suspect Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed managed to evade surveillance by leaving a London mosque wearing a burqa that covered his face and body.
"I certainly think it's a bit much to ask teachers or judges to deal with people who have their faces covered," he told listeners to his regular phone-in on LBC.
"That seems to me to not be how we do things in this country and it is absolutely reasonable to say that face veils, burkas, whatever, should not be acceptable in state-funded classrooms in this country and nor should they be acceptable in the system of British justice."
However, the London Mayor stated his belief that authorities should not ban items of dress altogether, and suggested that you "might as well ban balaclavas and ski masks" if the burqa was banned.