Cabinet ministers 'lash out at Tory top brass over cack-handed' Boris Johnson burqa probe

Four of Theresa May’s highest ranking ministers lashed out at the “cack-handed” probe launched into the controversial comments made by the former foreign secretary, according to the Sunday Times.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister faced a grassroots backlash from local Conservative figures and party donors over her handling of the affair - and a poll showed most Brits thought Mr Johnson should not be censured.

Mr Johnson sparked a racism row last week after describing women in burqas as looking like “bank robbers” or “letter boxes”.

Conservative chair Brandon Lewis has launched the preliminary stages of a formal probe into the matter, while Mrs May has ordered the Uxbridge MP to apologise.

But one Cabinet member told the Sunday Times: “It’s been so cack-handed. Boris is a backbencher. What he said wasn’t that outrageous; a lot of people have said worse and a lot of the party happens to agree with him.

“The sooner the party throws this investigation out, the better. Lots of people both on the front and back benches are really p***** off.”

Another said: “It’s been a total cockup from start to finish. What started out as something and nothing has been whipped up into a storm.

“It would have soon blown over, but in their willingness to see Boris punished, all they’ve done is hurt themselves.”

Yet another said the leadership of the party had “managed to engineer a total disaster” while another quipped: “It’s probably not been the best week.”

Elsewhere, Tory peer and former David Cameron aide Lord Cooper accused Mr Johnson of "moral emptiness" and "courting fascism".

A number of Tory MPs have been prompted to hand in letters of no-confidence to 1922 chair Sir Graham Brady when they return to parliament next month, according to reports, raising the prospect of a leadership election.

'DISCOURTESY AND MALEVOLENCE'

Meanwhile, Jacques Arnold, president of the Tonbridge and Malling Conservative Association, was one of a number of local figures who spoke out in defence of Mr Johnson to the Sunday Telegraph.

In a letter to the paper he fumed that “in 50 years of mostly voluntary service to the Conservative Party, I have never known such discourtesy and malevolence”.

He added: "Theresa May has indeed created a nasty party. She is at best an embarrassment, and at worst a humiliation for our great party and country. Enough is enough. She must go."

Donors to the party also weighed in, with one - City financier Jeremy Hosking, who has handed the party £375,000 since 2015 - saying: “This nasty little prosecution typifies the Conservative elite.

“The cynical and opportunistic response of some leading Conservatives in condemning him seems so transparent in its motivation as to be laughable.”

'OPEN WARFARE'

Elsewhere, a poll by ComRes for the Sunday Express found some 53% of Brits thought Mr Johnson should not face punishment for the comments, while 40% thought he should.

However the public also said Mrs May was still the best leader for the Conservative party out of the two. She won 26% of support compared with 24% for Mr Johnson - but 42% said “neither”.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told the Times: “If Boris is suspended as a result of the code of conduct investigation, it will be open warfare in the Conservative Party.

“And if Theresa May dares to engineer a leadership contest while Boris is suspended, it will be World War III.”

Mr Johnson returned to the UK yesterday afternoon following a holiday in Italy. Although he posed for photos with members of the public he refused to talk to waiting reporters.

But a friend of the Uxbridge MP told the Observer he was “as likely to ride naked down Blackfriars cycle lane waving an EU flag” as he was to apologise.

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