Boris Johnson pillar box comment

I read that another MP described him as a "pound shop Donald Trump" which I think is apt. I reckon there's a big streak of nasty under the bouffant hair and the wiff waff.
Boris wants power.
Boris cares about Boris, not the good of the country.
I hope he makes his move for the top job, falls on his face and is kicked to the kerb.

Just out of interest, as a thought experiment, how far do you think Boris would have got if he was the exact same only female? If it was Doris, not Boris, dangling her chubby self on a zipline over London with platinum hair flapping in the breeze, and saying the things that he has said? Would she be viewed as a character, and "bit buffoonish but actually really intelligent" Or just an embarrassment and never put forward as a candidate for running a jumble sale let alone a politician?

Speaking of Saudi, I wonder what the arms buyers make of their culture being mocked...

Boris is an embarrassment and a calculative bully. He picks an easy target to be topical, pathetic really!

Personally I find it hard to relate to women who cover up by choice and sad for those forced into it however it's their right and their expression to choose what to wear.

Just for the record, I’m not a fan of the burqa either but I feel like women can dress how they like

seriously why can’t a woman just decide what she wants to wear? Everyone is so judgemental about women being forced to wear the burka in places like Saudi but here we are telling women they can’t wear it. Why not just let women decide what they want to wear?!? It annoys me this whole argument about it being oppressive, ok it may if they are being fourced to wear it but arent people who are against it oppressing women by forcing them to dress a certain way, in the way they think is acceptable?

He has purposely picked an 'easy target'.
Lots of people may struggle with the concept of the burka, but it is a complex issue.
But what he knowingly has done is add fuel to and legitimise prejudicial views of people seeking a simple solution.
It is essential to ask why has he done this rather than debate 'Burkas - yes or no?'

It's quite unusually smart of him, I think, possibly, in that he has managed to get people frothing whilst NOT actually proposing to change anything. It makes his opponents look a bit unreasonable in that (frenetic with the slight whiff of a witch hunt) politically correct way so that the more general observer may wonder when it became impossible to hold an opinion.

For others it may just reinforce the blundering image.

My head hurts just thinking about it. So I'm going to forget the numpty.

Born here or not, the burqua has no place in western society.

BJ is indeed self serving, however the OP's question was first about his comment, and second, by implication, his motives. These are two separate matters.

But BJ expressed an opinion, which while not politically correct, is something he is entitled to do in a free country

The standard line trotted out when some oaf makes a racist remark.

It's all a bit "Free Tommeh" isn't it

As one of the posters in the toddler thread commented:

Unless they were walking around completely starkers, does it really matter? People wear clothes they like/feel comfortable in. It's irrelevant whether you like it or not. Says more about you than them tbh.

To prove my point:

Totally in-appropriate outfits for toddler session http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/3329642-totally-in-appropriate-outfits-for-toddler-session

He's a massive racist. Don't know why some people are condoning his views on how women should dress when if someone else made a comment on how (non-Muslim) women dress would be shot down with the same people telling the poster they have no right to pass judgement on a woman's choice of clothing. Most of the comments here are clearly defending BJ because his vitriol is aimed at Muslim women. BJ is a douchebag who is trying to emulate Trump so he gets voted in by even bigger douchebags to become the next leader of the Tory party.

Dottie, for me, the point is the BJ is not saying burquas should be banned. Quite the opposite. Unlike France & Denmark, we haven’t passed such an intrusive law ( with a couple of specific exceptions).
But BJ expressed an opinion, which while not politically correct, is something he is entitled to do in a free country.
Just as all the leavers and remainders express derogatory views of each other.

Yy, clearing, french and edith.

People who move to another country should integrate and abide by the host country's laws and customs
Why do you automatically assume that Muslim women who elect to wear burqas weren't born here?

t's terrifying to see so many posters approving of what Boris has said.
It's terrifying to see they can't work out what he's doing

Perhaps they're part of the audience he's appealing to?

It's terrifying to see they can't work out what he's doing.

He’s entirely self-serving.

^This! Exactly this.

Forget women with covered faces. This kind of dog whistle politics is far more sinister in my view. It's terrifying to see so many posters approving of what Boris has said.

This was not 'clumsy' on Johnson's part.
He met with Steve Bannon very recently.
He cares nothing about Muslim women and what they do or do not wear.
He is seeking to appeal to a very particular part of society.
He is preparing the ground to make his move.

Exactly, cholka. He used it as a sound bite to shock people and get them talking. He’s entirely self-serving.

This isn't clumsy, it's a calculated opening move in him trying to challenge May for leadership on the same populist lines that Trump followed. He's been meeting with Steve Bannon, who was instrumental in getting Trump in.
Who gives a fuck about burkas. Do you honestly think Johnson cares? He's using it to recruit racists to his cause. The world is going to shit and he thinks we should fuss about what a couple of hundred women wear?

How is Boris 'right?'

He gave no balanced,informed view as to why he feels Burka is unacceptable. He said nothing about Muslim men not being compelled to cover up in comparison.
He just directly took the piss out of Muslim women. Is that what he's being admired for?🙄

If government reflects society then it must be true that Boris has a lot of oafish supporters out there who are drawn to basic dog-whistle politics and can't get their minds beyond that level.

This man is on the world stage as it were, and he can't even articulate or speak diplomatically FFS.

Diplomacy matters.

Edith - I didn’t think you were disagreeing, I just wanted to expand on the “all press is good press” view. You are right, Boris generates a lot of publicity for himself and now because his most recent buffoonery we are talking about him again. With the US election Trump was rarely out of the press and mostly it was negative, but crucially it didn’t impact him adversely. Will Boris benefit in the same way? Or because we don’t have “fake news” here, will he be seen for what he is....a self-serving, opportunistic invertebrate.