Boris Johnson compares women wearing burkas to letter boxes and bank robbers

Never a quiet day for Boris Johnson...

Boris Johnson is facing calls for him to apologise after comments he made regarding the wearing of the burka. Writing in his column for The Telegraph, the former foreign secretary said he found the covering worn by some Muslim women "oppressive" and questioned why they would "go around looking like letter boxes". "If you tell me that the burka is oppressive, then I am with you," he said. "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." He also revealed he would "feel entitled" to ask a woman wearing the burka to remove it if she came to his constituency office. His comments sparked an angry response from other politicians, who claimed he was stoking Islamophobia, while Labour have urged Johnson to apologise. Labour MPs have also accused of him of stoking Islamophobia in a bid to boost his chances of becoming the next Conservative leader.