{UAH} Boris Johnson compares the sight of women wearing the burqa to 'a bank robber'

Boris Johnson compares the sight of women wearing the burqa to 'a bank robber'

Dan Bloom

 

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© PA Wire Boris Johnson

Women wearing the burqa "look like a bank robber", Boris Johnson suggested today.

The Tory MP - who until weeks ago was Britain's top diplomat - risked a backlash as he said he'd ask a woman to remove her Islamic veil if she was in his surgery.

Branding the religious symbol "oppressive", he claimed: "It is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes."

© Credits: Getty Muslim woman wearing veilAny female student who turned up to school "looking like a bank robber" should be asked to remove their face covering, he then added.

However, he stopped short of demanding a ban on face coverings in public.

Mr Johnson's comments will be seen as a pitch to the Tory grassroots amid fevered speculation about a future leadership contest.

But the comparison used by the gaffe-prone MP, who previously called black people "piccaninnies" and Barack Obama "part-Kenyan" and talked about whisky exports in a Sikh temple, could prompt criticism.

It comes days after reports emerged that Mr Johnson was in regular contact with Steve Bannon, the hard-right former Donald Trump advisor who is now trying to push his brand of politics in Europe.

© AFP "If a female student turned up at school looking like a bank robber" they should be asked to remove their covering, the ex-Foreign Secretary saidMr Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph that he is with those who describe the veil as "oppressive" and "weird and bullying", adding it has "no scriptural authority".

He added he "thoroughly dislikes" attempts by male government figures to encourage the veil, including President Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya - "who has told the men of his country to splat their women with paintballs if they fail to cover their heads."

He continued: "If a constituent came to my MP's surgery with her face obscured, I should feel fully entitled - like Jack Straw - to ask her to remove it so that I could talk to her properly.

"If a female student turned up at school or at a university lecture looking like a bank robber then ditto.

Also see: Boris Johnson's resignation speech in the Commons

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Boris Johnson gives his resignation speech in the commons

"Those in authority should be allowed to converse openly with those that they are being asked to instruct."

Mr Johnson went on to say he does not back a full ban on face veils in public, as has been passed in other countries including Denmark.

He said such a ban would be interpreted as being anti-Muslim and "fan the flames of grievance".

The MP resumed his Telegraph column just weeks after quitting as Foreign Secretary in defiance of a three-month rule set by Whitehall's jobs watchdog.

It is not yet known what he is paid, but the job previously paid £250,000 a year - a sum he described as "chicken feed".

Related: Boris Johnson's intriguing photo opportunities - Provided by Photo Services

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Slide 1 of 18: London Mayor Boris Johnson takes part in a tug of war with members of the armed services to launch the London Poppy Day, outside City Hall, in London, October 27, 2015. London Poppy Day is a street collection event to raise money for serving and retired

Full Screen

1/18 SLIDES © Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Boris Johnson, former foreign secretary is a well-known figure, not least for his remarkable capacity for appearing in slightly offbeat photos. Here are just a few. 

(Pictured) Johnson takes part in a tug of war with members of the armed services to launch the London Poppy Day, U.K., on Oct. 27, 2015.

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