Muslim leaders and MPs line up to criticise Boris Johnson for burka comments
Video Report by ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen
Boris Johnson has been accused of “inflaming bigotry” as Muslim leaders and Tory peers issued fresh calls for him to apologise for his “offensive” comments about burkas.
Former foreign secretary Mr Johnson has refused to bow to pressure after causing outrage with a newspaper article comparing women in the face-covering veils to looking like letter boxes and bank robbers.
With no apology forthcoming, founder and president of the Conservative Muslim Forum Lord Sheikh told ITV News Mr Johnson's remarks were "inflammatory".
He said: “I feel like that we should perhaps consider taking the whip from him.
"I feel his remarks are likely to cause problems and I feel they will certainly inflame bigotry.
"Already Muslims' are suffering because of hate crimes against them and words like these do not help."
Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain Miqdaad Versi said comment was just part of "weekly occurrences of Islamophobia by members of the Conservative party."
He added: "What is happening when you have a party where this number of incidents continues to occur and no action is being taken?"
While former communities secretary Sir Eric Pickles admitted that a debate on the burka was needed but not in the way it was phrased.
Speaking to ITV News he said: "I think a debate about the burka is healthy, a debate about women's rights is a healthy thing to do.
"But you can't have that kind of debate if you use inappropriate language, because it stops people listening."
Women react to Boris Johnson's "offensive" comments about the burka
Lord Pickles suggested Mr Johnson had been treated more lightly by the party than other Conservatives would be.
He told BBC News: "If this was a councillor from Scunthorpe or Middlesbrough or somewhere I'm not entirely sure he would have been given the amount of slack and, in truth, he wouldn't have been given the amount of attention, that Boris has got."
Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis ordered Mr Johnson to apologise for the remarks on Tuesday.But the standoff continued even after Theresa May added her voice to calls for him to apologise – although she swerved questions about whether his comments amounted to Islamophobia.
And Lady Warsi accused Mr Johnson of adopting the “dog-whistle” tactics of former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon in the hope of attracting support from right-wing Tories for an eventual leadership bid.
Before Mrs May’s intervention, a source close to Mr Johnson made clear he was not retracting his comments.
“It is ridiculous that these views are being attacked – we must not fall into the trap of shutting down the debate on difficult issues,” said the source.
“We have to call it out. If we fail to speak up for liberal values then we are simply yielding ground to reactionaries and extremists.”
Labour’s Jess Phillips tweeted that Mr Johnson was “just a racist” in response.
“Happy to arrange debate with BJ (Boris Johnson) about all the actions I’ve taken to stand up for liberal values including challenging things considered to be culturally sensitive.
“I’m not afraid to do that, I do it daily without being a racist.
“He’s done nothing to help he’s just a racist.”