Senior Tory Muslim Warns Boris’ Burka Remarks Will Be Seized Upon By The Far-Right

6 August 2018, 18:11 | Updated: 6 August 2018, 18:20

A senior Conservative Muslim says he has been left “appalled” by Boris Johnson’s “deplorable” remarks in which he compared women in burkas to “letter boxes”.

Mohammed Amin, chair of the Conservative Muslim Forum, said the former foreign secretary’s comments will be seized upon by the far-right.

Mr Johnson has come under fire for his Daily Telegraph article, in which he was making an argument against a ban on the face veil.

Labour MP David Lammy branded him a “pound-shop Donald Trump”.

- Boris Johnson mocks women in burkas who 'look like bank robbers'

And Mr Amin told Iain Dale he would not vote for Mr Johnson if a leadership election was held.

He said: “The way he goes on for sentence after sentence, almost half his article, slagging off women who wear a niqab and a burka in very derogatory language was deplorable.

“This is from a man who is a master of the English language, he knows exactly what effect his words will have.

“They are very divisive, they feed a narrative that Islam and Muslims are alien and have no place in Britain.

“I’m just appalled that he chose consciously to write such an article.”

He continued: “There are lots of anti-Muslim bigots in this country who will be celebrating reading stuff like that.

“They’re going to ignore his calls for making sure we don’t have a ban on the niqab and and the burka in this country.

“What they’re going to seize on is what he said about Muslim women.”

Mr Amin finished: "“I am a Conservative Party member and if there is a leadership contest I will have one vote just like every other member and you can be sure I will not be casting it for Boris Johnson if his name is on the ballot paper.”