Boris Johnson is at it again! This time he says burka-clad women look like LETTERBOXES
The former foreign secretary of United Kingdom Boris Johnson drew the ire of liberals across the internet when he compared the appearance of women wearing burkas to "bank robbers" and "letterboxes". However, he said that burkas must not be banned.
While Johnson openly attacked the dress code for Muslim women, he insisted that Britain should not mirror the decision made by several countries to ban burkas in public. Branding the dress as "oppressive", he also said that the ban enforced by Denmark last week was unwarranted. "If you say that it is weird and bullying to expect women to cover their faces, then I totally agree," he said. "I would go further and say that it is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letterboxes."
Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Johnson said that, if a female "turned up at school or at a university lecture looking like a bank robber", he would ask her to remove the veil if she wanted to speak with him.
That said, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Theresa May said that there were no plans to bring in a ban on the burka, reported The Sun. The spokesperson said: "The long-standing government position on this is clear, that we do not support a ban on the wearing of the veil in public. Such a prescriptive approach would be not in keeping with British values of religious tolerance and gender equality."
Certain Islamic traditions make it mandatory for women to dress "modestly" in public — all covered up in black and a headscarf.
According to Johnson, it is "sensible" to be able to recognize facial expressions in conversation and that humans "must be able to see each other's faces". The member of parliament resigned as Foreign Secretary last month over Brexit.
He also asserted that branches of government, or even individual businesses for that matter, should have the right to enforce a dress code that "enables their workers to best interact with customers" — which could include a ban on veils.
However, he added: "I am against a total ban because it is inevitably construed – rightly or wrongly – as being intended to make some point about Islam."
According to Boris, a ban could make the "problem worse". He did not want the UK to be perceived as a police state telling a woman what to wear and what not to.
He further warned that if a ban of such nature were put in place, it could transpire into a crackdown on other forms of religious symbols or even risk a "clash of civilizations" in the UK.
He hopes that someday Muslim women would freely wear whatever they wanted to and not cow down to harsh religious tenets.
Johnson's words prompted a response from Miqdaad Versi, the assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, who said he was "pandering to the far right" while Labour MP David Lammy called him a "pound-shop Donald Trump."
