Former UK FM Johnson accused of encouraging Islamophobia

Former British foreign secretary Boris Johnson has been accused of encouraging Islamophobia to open his way to the top post in the ruling Conservative Party.

The criticism surfaced Monday after Johnson published an article in the Daily Telegraph describing Muslim women wearing burqa as “letter boxes” and “bank robbers.”

Labour MP David Lammy said Johnson, whom he called a “pound-shop Donald Trump,” was “fanning the flames of Islamophobia to propel his grubby electoral ambitions.”

“Muslim women are having their burkas pulled off by thugs in our streets & Boris Johnson’s response is to mock them for looking like letter boxes,” said Lammy in a tweet.

Naz Shah MP, Labour’s shadow equalities minister, said Johnson was deliberately attacking the Muslim women in an alleged bid to reach out to the far-right.

“Saying Muslim women look like letterboxes, comparing them to bank robbers and describing Islam as a ‘problem’ was a calculated attack and published in a national newspaper,” Shah said, adding, “Boris Johnson’s latest racist insults cannot be laughed off, like they often are.”

Johnson resigned from the government of Prime Minister Theresa May last month after he protested against May’s plans for finalizing Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

SS