Tag: Mohamed Sheikh, Baron Sheikh

The Conservative party is coming under intense pressure to decide whether to take disciplinary action against Boris Johnson following his continued refusal to apologise for his controversial descriptions of fully veiled Muslim women. A complaint about Johnson has been lodged with Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis, who is responsible for the party’s code of conduct which says that Tory MPs and other holders of public office should “foster respect and tolerance” in their work. Lewis has to decide whether to launch disciplinary proceedings following a day of intense criticism of Johnson, largely from the liberal wing of the party, after he used a column in the Telegraph to compare fully veiled women to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”. MP Dominic Grieve said the former foreign secretary was “not a fit and proper person” to lead the party and said he would quit the Tories if Johnson was elected leader. Writing in the Guardian, Baroness Warsi said his language had made “hate crime more likely”. Lewis had personally asked him on Tuesday to apologise but Johnson, who is on holiday, has refused to do so. The prime minister urged him to apologise and said she agreed with Lewis that Johnson should say sorry for his remarks, which she acknowledged had caused offence in the Muslim community. Friends of Johnson claimed that the row was politically motivated, and that other MPs, including the former chancellor Ken Clarke, had made similar remarks comparing the burqa to a bag without similar reproach. Warsi accused Johnson of making “hate crime more likely” with indefensible “dog whistle” references to Muslim women. One cabinet minister, Jeremy Wright, said Johnson should have chosen his language more carefully and that he was “sure on reflection” that he would want to reconsider the language he had used.