British Prime Minister Theresa May backed calls Tuesday for her former foreign minister Boris Johnson to apologise for disparaging comments he made about Muslim women wearing burqas — but he branded his critics “ridiculous”.
May said his remarks “have clearly caused offence” and agreed with the chairman of her Conservative party, Brandon Lewis, who had asked Johnson to apologise.
“I do think that we all have to be very careful about the language and terms we use. And some of the terms Boris used describing people’s appearance obviously have offended,” the prime minister said.
“What’s important is do we believe people should have the right to practise their religion and, in the case of women and the burqa and niqab, to choose how they dress.”
In a column in Monday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, Johnson said women wearing the full face veil looked like “bank robbers” or “letter-boxes”, prompting accusations of Islamophobia.
But the former top diplomat, who has a reputation for causing controversy and quit May’s cabinet last month in protest at her Brexit plan, refused to back down.
“It is ridiculous that these views are being attacked – we must not fall into the trap of shutting down the debate on difficult issues,” a source close to Johnson told reporters.
“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.
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