Boris Johnson finally apologises for comparing women in burqas to ‘letter boxes’
2 min read
The Prime Minister has said he is “sorry for any offence” caused by past comments he made about Muslim women wearing burqas.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Boris Johnson was pressed on his inflammatory remarks in which he compared women wearing burqas to "letter boxes" and "bank robbers".
He said: “I’ve already said sorry for any offence I have caused and I’ll say it again, but let me be very clear that I don’t set out to cause offence in what I’ve written."
The Prime Minister also repeated past assertions that the comments were taken out of context.
“It’s always worth looking at the whole article and what I’m really intending to say, because actually it’s quite the opposite," he added.
“I’m very proud on my record on combatting extremism and indeed of my Muslim ancestry.”
Mr Johnson has repeatedly refused throughout the general election campaign to apologise for the comments, which he made in a Daily Telegraph column in 2018.
Responding to listerner’s questions on LBC last week, he said he “never set out to cause pain or hurt” when writing the article for the paper.
And he added: "You just need to go back and look at the context. So much of this stuff is disinterred with a view to distracting from the basic issues of this election."
Meanwhile, during a Question Time panel last month, Mr Johnson said: "If you go through all my articles with a fine-tooth comb and take out individual phrases there is no doubt that you can find things that can be made to seem offensive and of course I understand that."
His apology comes just days after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also used an appearance on ITV’s This Morning to apologise for anti-Semitism in his party.
Mr Corbyn said: “Our party and me do not accept anti-semitism in any form, obviously I’m very sorry for everything that’s happened but I want to make this clear, I am dealing with it, I have dealt with it.”
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