CONSERVATIVE MPs' support for Boris Johnson over his comments comparing Muslim women in burkas to bank robbers has "shone a light on the underbelly of Islamophobia" within the party, the Muslim Council of Britain has said.
Harun Khan, MCB Secretary General, said the former foreign secretary's comments, which have attracted criticism and divided opinion since appearing in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, had a "real and worrying" impact on the Muslim community.
He also said the MCB received Islamophobic hate mail as a result of the furore, some describing Muslims as "barbarians".
Khan's comments came as fellow prominent Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg said the party's investigation into Johnson had been set up as a "show trial" in a bid to derail any long-held ambitions the former Cabinet minister may have for Tory party leadership.
In a statement, Khan said: "The impact of Boris Johnson's comments are real and worrying and indicate the importance of a full, transparent and independent investigation into his conduct, in particular given the lack of action in previous cases of Islamophobia in the party.
"The comments and belief by a number of Conservative MPs that not even an apology is required has shone a light on the underbelly of Islamophobia that is present within the party – one that can only be tackled by sincerely changing course and positively responding to calls for an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party."
Johnson, who is holidaying abroad, is yet to respond to the controversy sparked by his article on Monday, in which he opposed a ban on the burka or niqab, but branded the face-covering veils "ridiculous" and "oppressive" and said Muslim women wearing them looked like letterboxes or bank robbers.
Rees-Mogg suggested the attacks on Johnson's comment were a reflection of "envy" felt towards him because of "his many successes, popularity with voters and charisma".
The howls of outrage directed at the former figurehead of the Leave campaign were "suspect" and the motivations of those attacking him "dubious", said the North East Somerset MP.
Johnson's comments on the burka have been branded "inflammatory and divisive" by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, but the watchdog made clear it was not launching its own investigation.
A panel including one independent figure, one representative of the voluntary party and one nominated by the backbench Tory 1922 Committee will look into complaints that Johnson's comments breached the Conservative Party's code of conduct.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel