Johnson
has refused to apologize, and the Conservative Party has now launched
an inquiry into whether Johnson's comments violated its code of
conduct, which states that Tory officials and elected representatives
must "lead by example to encourage and foster respect and tolerance"
and not "use their position to bully, abuse, victimise, harass or
unlawfully discriminate against others."
Britain's most senior police officer, Met Police Commissioner
Cressida Dick, saidthat she had consulted hate-crime specialists and
determined that Johnson's comments did not break the law:
In an August 5 essay published by the
Daily Telegraph,
Johnson argued that he was opposed to Denmark's burka ban because the
government should not be telling women what they may or may not wear in
public. Johnson wrote:
"What has happened, you may
ask,
to the Danish spirit of live and let live? If you tell me that the
burka is oppressive, then I am with you. 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 Koran. I would go further and say that it is absolutely
ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter
boxes....
"If a constituent came to my MP's surgery [one-on-one meetings between
MPs and their constituents] with her face obscured, I should feel fully
entitled... to ask her to remove it so that I could talk to her
properly. If a female student turned up at school or at a university
lecture looking like a bank robber, then ditto: those in authority
should be allowed to converse openly with those that they are being
asked to instruct."
