Boris Under Seige

What a world we live in. Boris Johnson has said nothing that could – in any sane world – be considered controversial. Yet the offendatrons are now out to get him and his party, instead of telling them robustly where to get off, is attempting to appease them.

The former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is to a face a disciplinary investigation following a string of complaints that his comments about the burqa breached the Conservative party’s code of conduct.

Really? I mean, seriously? What did he do to warrant such action? He wrote a piece in the Telegraph pointing out that much as he dislikes the niqab and burka and in the process engaged in some levity at their expense, he defended the right of the wearer to do so. A typically liberal approach, in fact. But, no, the jokes are taken out of the context of the whole and are evidence of Islamophobia (there is no such thing – Ed. I know, I know – LR).

Party sources said dozens of complaints about the column had been received after it was published on Monday and it was important they were properly examined. In the article for the Daily Telegraph, Johnson compared women in burqas to letterboxes and bank robbers.

No doubt from the usual sources. In a free society, people should be able to express an opinion in a private capacity as Johnson did without this kind of hysteria, for he has said nothing that is offensive unless you choose to take offence. And, let’s be really clear here, there is no right not to be offended. Free speech if it is to mean anything at all means the right to cause offence.

The party’s code of conduct says that MPs and other holders of public office should “not use their position to bully, abuse, victimise, harass or unlawfully discriminate against others” and “foster respect and tolerance”. It promises that complaints will be investigated “in a timely and confidential manner”.

But he hasn’t done any of these things. Also, a tolerant society may find from time to time that it is appropriate not to tolerate the intolerable – and Islamic belief, its misogynistic and backward nature, not to mention the oppression that has ultimately led to women in a civilised country wearing these bin bags is, frankly, intolerable. But, that said, I’m with Johnson – no bans, merely give us the liberty to openly ridicule and refuse to interact as we see fit. It’s here that I face an internal conflict – precisely because I find this religion and its in-your-face nature epitomised by this desert garb so intolerable, yet I do not want to live in a country where the state dictates what people may wear.

Johnson, who is on holiday, has refused to apologise for his controversial descriptions despite calls for him to do so by the Tory party hierarchy.

Good. Someone with a spine at last who is prepared to publish and be damned. I wish more people would be prepared to stand by their remarks instead of cravenly apologising as soon as the offence police start wagging their fingers and screeching like harpies.

Karim said Johnson’s comments had pushed the boundaries of acceptable political debate and as a result the party had to decide what future it wanted to embrace.

Bullshit on stilts. It is perfectly acceptable to indulge in such debate and it is perfectly acceptable to ridicule such medieval dress.

Karim said that, as a result, “the Conservative party today has to decide whether it will be a genuine one nation political force or an English nationalist movement. In the latter there is no room for diversity and that is where Boris, Farage and others are dragging the party.”

Oh, grow up and get over yourself. Johnson was making a perfectly reasonable point and using levity in the process. The followers of the “Religion of Peace” (yeah, right – Ed) should not be above a bit of mickey taking.

He added: “This further pushes the boundaries of acceptable political debate into an ever more extreme place.”

More bullshit. The remarks were pretty mild, frankly, and probably resonate with the people who live outside the Westminster bubble and the claustrophobic politically correct world these morons inhabit.

However the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, said Johnson’s remarks about Muslim women wearing the burqa would not “reach the bar” for a criminal offence.

In amongst the usual drivel we get from the offendatrons, a little gemstone of common sense.

“I know that many people have found this offensive. I also know that many other people believe strongly that in the whole of the article, what Mr Johnson appears to have been attempting to do was to say that there shouldn’t be a ban and that he was engaging in a legitimate debate.”

Good Lord! What have you done to Cressida Dick? Where did you hide the body?

Asked what she made of the language the former foreign secretary used, the commissioner told the BBC Asian Network: “Some people have clearly found it offensive.

To which, of course, the appropriate answer is, tough shit, go fuck yourself.

“I spoke last night to my very experienced officers who deal with hate crime and, although we have not yet received any allegation of such a crime, I can tell you that my preliminary view having spoken to them is that what Mr Johnson said would not reach the bar for a criminal offence. He did not commit a criminal offence.”

I should bloody well think not. I think I need a little lie down, now…