UK prime minister condemns Boris Johnson's 'burqa insults'

UK Prime Minister Theresa May backed calls for former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson to apologise for controversial comments about Muslim women who choose to wear the burqa.

Johnson wrote in a newspaper column compared women who were the burqa to "letterboxes" and "bank robbers".

May said his remarks "have clearly caused offence" and backed calls by Conservative Party Chairman Brandon Lewis for 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 practice their religion and, in the case of women and the burqa and niqab, to choose how they dress."

Despite outrage at Johnson's comments, the Tory politician - who recently stepped down as foreign minister after criticising May's Brexit policy - 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."

In his article, Johnson made a series of disparaging comments about the burqa and niqab.

"If you tell me that the burqa is oppressive, then I am with you," he said. 

I do think that we all have to be very careful about the language and terms we use. - UK Prime Minister Theresa May

"If you say that it is weird and bullying to expect women to cover their faces, then I totally agree - and I would add that I can find no scriptural authority for the practice in the Quran."

He then claimed: "It is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes."

Any female student who turned up to school "looking like a bank robber" should be asked to remove their face covering, he then added.

Junior Foreign Minister Alistair Burt told the BBC: "I would never have made such a comment, I think there is a degree of offence in that, absolutely right."

Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi, a former party chairwoman, accused Johnson of adopting the "dog-whistle" tactics of right-wing Steve Bannon, US President Donald Trump's former top aide who has established ties with the British politician.

Warsi said Johnson was hoping to attract support from right-wing Conservatives for an eventual leadership bid, and called for an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party.

"It is crass and it must stop, and it must be condemned by the leadership right from the prime minister down."

Backing Johnson, Conservative MP Nadine Dorries saying he "did not go far enough".

"Any clothing a woman is forced to wear which hides both her beauty and her bruises should be banned and have no place in our liberal, progressive country," she said.