The top Scottish member of the British parliament has denounced the main candidate seeking to become the country’s next prime minister, saying he is a “racist” who cannot be trusted to lead the United Kingdom.
Ian Blackford said during a Wednesday debate of the House of Commons that Johnson, who is leading the Conservative Party leadership race by a large margin, had a well-known record of insulting communities in the UK.
“Does the prime minister realize, not only is the member racist, he is stoking division in communities and has a record of dishonesty?” said Blackford while posing a question to outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.
Blackford resisted a call from the Commons speaker John Bercow to withdraw his comments about Johnson, who is a current member of the parliament.
“The member has called Muslim women ‘letterboxes’, described African people as having ‘watermelon smiles’, and another disgusting slur that I would never dignify by repeating,” said the Scottish MP, adding, “If that’s not racist, Mr Speaker, I don’t know what is.
The comments came after Johnson secured a fresh lead in his bid to become the next prime minister by winning the support of 126 out of 313 Tory lawmakers during a vote on Tuesday.
The former London mayor and ex-foreign minister has managed to improve his base of public support by promising to take Britain out of the European Union at the end of October.
However, many fear Britain would become a less tolerant society under Johnson given his views on immigration and minorities.
Johnson sparked huge outrage last summer when he wrote an article for the Daily Telegraph saying Muslim women wearing burqas were like bank robbers and letter boxes.
Studies after the publication of then opinion piece showed that hate crimes against Muslims in the UK, especially against women wearing burqas, had significantly increased across the country.