Barmy Tory chiefs were branded a ‘joke’ last night as it emerged Boris Johnson could be sent for DIVERSITY training
THE Tory party was in chaos yesterday amid claims Boris Johnson could be sent for diversity training.
The astonishing move emerged after chairman Brandon Lewis tried to calm MPs angry over a probe into the former Foreign Secretary over his burka remarks.
And the proposed plan came as Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson backed Boris and even said his “letterbox” remarks were funny.
Sources claimed Mr Lewis tried to placate Mr Johnson’s supporters by saying there will not be a negative outcome from the formal investigation. Insiders said one way out could be to put him on a diversity course.
Within minutes of the claims emerging, senior Tories demanded Mr Lewis quit for “making a mockery” of the party. One said it was crazy that a Foreign Secretary who has travelled the world should have to go for “re-education”.
Eurosceptic Jacob Rees Mogg warned the party looked “inept”.
Brandon pairing complaint
A FORMAL complaint has been made against Mr Lewis after he voted in the Commons despite agreeing not to so Lib Dem mum Jo Swinson could stay at home with her newborn son last month.
Close ally Conor Burns said: “The idea that the man elected twice as Mayor of one of the most diverse cities on earth needs ‘diversity training; is a joke.”
Fellow Tory MP Andrew Rosindell: “It’s an insult to suggest any member of Parliament needs this.”
And a former Cabinet minister said: “This attack on Boris must be abandoned before more harm is done to our party by the chairman. Brandon Lewis needs to consider his position given his disastrous role in this fiasco. He should go.”
But human rights campaigners also attacked the Tories for appearing to have decided to let off Boris.
Comedian Atkinson defends Boris' joke
BLACKADDER star Rowan Atkinson backed Boris in a letter to The Times yesterday, insisting the burka blast was funny.
In the biggest public display of support yet for Mr Johnson, the comic said the joke was “pretty good” and did not require an apology.
He added: “You should really only apologise for a bad joke.”
Miqdaad Versi of the Muslim Council said: “Private reassurances to MPs do not bode well for a truly fair investigation of the facts, the racism and the impact. It’s a bit worrying.
“Diversity training without even acknowledging the hurt and anger caused is completely insufficient.”
The Conservative Party was accused of declaring war on Boris on Thursday after it finally confirmed it was investigating a complaint about his newspaper column. In it he described women who wear the burka as looking like bank robbers or letter boxes, but refused to back calls for a ban.
Yesterday leaked social media messages showed he had the backing of Commons Leader and fellow Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom.
So divisive
BORIS Johnson’s burka blast was branded “inflammatory and divisive” by the UK’s equalities watchdog yesterday.
In a scathing attack, the Equality And Human Rights Commission said his explosive comments risked “vilifying Muslim women”.
Dozens of complaints are thought to have been received by the Tory Party and 100 women who wear the niqab or burka have urged it to suspend Mr Johnson. But grandee Iain Duncan Smith yesterday joined Lord Tebbit in defending him.
Equality chief Rebecca Hilsenrath said: “Boris Johnson’s use of language which, in this instance, risks dehumanising and vilifying Muslim women, is inflammatory and divisive.
“Political figures should lead by example, conducting debates in a responsible manner.”
Another Cabinet Minister said: “Brandon and the Prime Minister had it within their gift to have killed this story on Monday.The thing for me is that we’re kowtowing to the left and that’s a bad position for us to be in.”
Conservative Party sources have privately insisted they had no role in triggering the investigation. They said it was the automatic consequence of a complaint coming in.
Under the party’s code of conduct, a disciplinary panel should be set up to study the claims. Boris could be suspended or expelled.
Yesterday a Conservative Muslim peer, among those to have complained about the burka comments, claimed he had suffered a torrent of racist abuse as a result.
Lord Sheikh said he had been called a “black bastard” and told to “go back to your country”.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, he said: “Boris Johnson has left the genie out of the bottle and this genie is causing a lot of harm to race relations in this country.”
Boris is refusing to apologise and is still believed to be holidaying in Italy. Friends said he feels he has nothing to say sorry for.
In WhatsApp messages leaked online yesterday, Tory MPs praised an article by Munira Mirza, one of Mr Johnson’s former deputy mayors in London, which defended him against his critics.
Zac Goldsmith said: “Brilliant piece by Munira Mirza on the hypocrisy, dishonesty and utter stupidity surrounding the Boris burka nonsense. What on earth is the party doing?!”
Backbencher Nadine Dorries added: “The party has f****d up big time and one of the worst f***-ups has been the Prime Minister appearing on TV calling for Boris to apologise.”
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Former London mayor Ken Livingstone insisted Mr Johnson should be kicked out of the party.
Mr Livingstone, who quit Labour in May over anti-Semitism claims, said: “Boris is pandering to that fear of Islam and the bigotry.”
A Tory councillor in Brighton was sent for diversity training in 2013 after she claimed golliwogs were “nostalgic, not racist”.
The Sun Says
WE’RE with Blackadder.
Rowan Atkinson said in 2012 that there was a battle to be won against the “outrage industry”, made up of “self-appointed arbiters of the public good, encouraging media-stoked outrage, to which the police feel under terrible pressure to react”.
It is a battle, as we’ve seen this week, that is being lost.
Let’s be clear: Boris Johnson’s use of the word ‘letterboxes’ to describe people wearing burkas was extremely ill-judged from a senior politician, especially when those who wear them still suffer disgraceful abuse on the streets.
It was another Boris gaffe that will count against him if he does return to frontline politics.
It was also an attempt at humour. And Atkinson is right to say, as he did yesterday, that we must allow humour into our lives — even if it is offensive.
Quite what the Met were doing even thinking about making this a criminal matter is beyond us.
There has been precious little debate about the question Boris was actually posing: what role burkas have in modern society and whether the Government should ban them.
Instead we have handed over political debate to social media mobs and a shouting competition.
That’s no good for any of us.