'Unfit' UK PM in hotter waters over 'deeply racist and offensive' columns

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ended up in hotter waters after more of his "deeply racist and offensive" columns from years earlier emerged, with an activist terming him to be an "unfit" leader.

The co-convener of British pressure group Unite Against Fascism (or Stand Up to Racism), Weyman Bennett, said Johnson’s words were “deeply racist and offensive” and that "this can be added to the ‘piccaninnies’ and ‘watermelon smiles’, the abject refusal to properly apologise, and change his behaviour around racism.

“Boris Johnson is unfit to be a prime minister that represents the entire United Kingdom," Bennett added. "He had demonstrated this by lying and falsely representing black, Asian and different communities inside this country.

"This is deeply offensive and unforgivable and should not be ignored and he should be held to account.”

The UK premier has been facing a storm of accusations of Islamophobia and racism after the revelation of new articles wherein he called Islam and Muslims a problem and attacked Nigerian people, women, and working-class people.

Accused of peddling lies and hate against Islam that led to a rise in the attacks on Muslims and ethnic minorities, Johnson wrote in the Spectator in 2005 that he believed it was only "natural" for the public to be scared of Islam.

"To any non-Muslim reader of the Koran, Islamophobia fear of Islam seems a natural reaction, and, indeed, exactly what that text is intended to provoke," he had written.

"Judged purely on its scripture to say nothing of what is preached in the mosques it is the most viciously sectarian of all religions in its heartlessness towards unbelievers."

In the wake of the London bombings, he had also questioned the loyalty of British Muslims and insisted that the country must accept that "Islam is the problem".

"It will take a huge effort of courage and skill to win round the many thousands of British Muslims who are in a similar state of alienation, and to make them see that their faith must be compatible with British values and with loyalty to Britain," he had said in a column.

A newly-unearthed column written during his time as editor of the Spectator indicates how he said young people had “an almost Nigerian interest in money” — a reference to Black people of Nigerian origin — and pushed racial stereotypes.

Johnson has previously referred to Black people as “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles”. He has also said that Islam has caused the Muslim world to be “literally centuries behind” the west.

In another column that came to light, the British PM blamed single mothers for “producing a generation of ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate children”, saying that social housing was an enticement for them to become pregnant.

In that column, published in the Spectator in 1995, Johnson had written that “uppity and irresponsible women” had a “natural desire to have babies” and that ways must be found to ensure they married.

The new columns emerged after the chancellor, Sajid Javid, earlier this week refused at least seven times to say whether he would use the terms “bank robber” or “letterbox” to describe Muslim women who wear a burka, as Johnson did last year.

Naz Shah, Labour's shadow minister for women and equalities, noted that Johnson’s words were extremely offensive and dangerous, calling on him to address each and every issue that has been unearthed and explain his position.

She said: “Boris Johnson’s Conservatives are deliberately ignoring the racism that infects their party from top to bottom because dealing with it would mean acknowledging the Prime Minister’s guilt and the discriminatory impact of their policies in government."

Former Conservative cabinet minister, Sayeeda Warsi, said Muslim women were attacked after Johnson called them “letterboxes”. In an interview, she said: “We saw that when Boris made those crass comments around Muslim women wearing the niqab, that many Muslim women — visibly Muslim women — were subsequently attacked on our streets.

"In fact, a government funded organisation reported the increase in hate crime towards visibly Muslim women as a result of those comments.”

“I think what I would be saying to the Prime Minister is to think again. Think about the words that your views, not just in relation to Muslim communities but in terms of describing gay communities and black communities and other communities … think about those words that you use because those words have consequences and not the kind of words which really are fitting for a Prime Minister of this country.”

Warsi also raised concerns about the views of senior government figures, telling the Guardian that she has “no doubt” that senior Tory leader Michael Gove — who wrote a controversial book in 2006 called Celsius 7/7 about Islamism in the UK — was Islamophobic.

“I think Michael’s view is there is no such thing as a non-problematic Muslim. I think that in his world there’s an extremist lurking behind anyone who professes to be connected to Islam or Muslims in any way shape or form,” she said.