Boris Johnson did not break Tory Party rules when he compared women wearing burkas to ‘bank robbers’, a disciplinary panel rules
- Boris Johnson compared women wearing burkas to ‘bank robbers’ in a column
- He also said the women looked like ‘letterboxes’ in a column about a burka ban
- The former Foreign Secretary was at the centre of race row four months ago
- A disciplinary panel has ruled he did not breach of party rules over comparison
The former Foreign Secretary was at the centre of race row four months ago after making the comparison in a newspaper column [File photo]
Boris Johnson did not break any Tory Party rules when he compared women wearing burkas to ‘bank robbers’, a disciplinary panel has ruled.
The former Foreign Secretary was at the centre of race row four months ago after making the comparison in a newspaper column, also saying the women looked like ‘letterboxes’.
An independent legal panel ruled that Mr Johnson was not in breach of party rules and was entitled to use ‘satire’ to make his point, the Daily Telegraph reported last night.
In August Theresa May called for Mr Johnson to apologise for his comments, saying they had ‘clearly caused offence’, but the Uxbridge MP refused.
Tory Party chairman Brandon Lewis also demanded an apology from Mr Johnson.
Mr Johnson had said that while he found it ‘ridiculous’ that women should ‘choose to go around looking like letterboxes [or] a bank robber’, it was within their rights to do so. He added ‘a total ban is not the answer’.
An independent legal panel ruled that Mr Johnson was not in breach of party rules and was entitled to use ‘satire’ to make his point, the Daily Telegraph reported last night [File photo]
After the Conservatives received dozens of complaints in the days following his column in the Telegraph, the matter was referred to an independent panel which examined whether Mr Johnson breached a party rule that requires MPs to ‘foster respect and tolerance’.
Dismissing the complaints against Mr Johnson, the panel ruled that: ‘In a democratic society it should be careful not to be over-zealous in its scrutiny or censure of language.
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The Code does not override an individual’s right to freedom of expression … and should not be read in such a way as to deprive party representatives of that entitlement.’
The independent panel, chaired by Naomi Ellenbogen QC, said Mr Johnson’s language could be considered ‘provocative’ but it would be ‘unwise to censor excessively the language of party representatives or the use of satire to emphasise a viewpoint, particularly a viewpoint that is not subject to criticism’.
Sources close to Mr Lewis, above, said Tory Party rules meant it had no choice but to investigate after it received a number of complaints over Mr Johnson [File photo]
An ally of Mr Johnson told the Telegraph: ‘Questions will now be asked about why the party chairman decided to waste large amounts of party funds on this ridiculous witch-hunt in the first place.
‘His decision to launch a very high-profile attack on Boris and call for an apology was very poor judgment and stinks of hapless political game-playing.
‘Perhaps Mr Lewis will now do the honourable thing and apologise to Boris with the same zeal he shamelessly used to smear his name.’
Sources close to Mr Lewis said Tory Party rules meant it had no choice but to investigate after it received a number of complaints over Mr Johnson.
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