LONDON—Boris Johnson, who is considered the favorite to replace UK Prime Minister Theresa May as Conservative Party leader, is under fire for his comments critical of the burka, even as he has defended a women’s right to wear it.
In an article in the Telegraph, the former foreign minister said a recent ban in Denmark on the burka—the full-length, face-covering veil worn by Muslim women—went against the nation’s “spirit of liberty.” But by adding criticisms that the burka and niqab are “oppressive,” “ridiculous,” and make women “look like letter boxes,” as well as comparing wearers’ appearance to “bank robbers,” Johnson was accused of stoking “Islamophobia” by some critics.
