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Ken Livingstone has called for Boris Johnson to be “dumped” from the Conservative Party as the scandal over his burka remarks continued into a fifth day.

Former mayor of London Mr Livingstone, who Mr Johnson beat in the 2008 election, said the former foreign secretary was “pandering” to bigotry.

In his Daily Telegraph column on Monday, Mr Johnson sparked outrage when he compared Muslim women wearing burkas to “letter boxes” and “bank robbers”.

Mr Livingstone quit the Labour Party in May, saying issues around his suspension for alleged anti-Semitism had become a distraction.

He said in an interview with LBC on Friday: “We’ve had a real increase in Islamophobic incidents, very often a woman wearing a burka gets it ripped off their face. Boris is pandering to that fear of Islam and bigotry.

“We all know Boris one day is going to try and become the next leader of the Tory party and if he’s going to be trying to mobilise bigots in the Tory Party behind him, that’s totally wrong.

“Again and again, he will say things that are completely wrong. He isn’t really a politician, he just wants to be a famous celebrity. He doesn’t do the detailed work, he doesn’t get on top of issues. It’s just one-off remarks all the time and frankly I think the Tory Party should dump him.”

Mr Livingstone added: “If he ever became a Prime Minister, he would be a disaster for Britain.

“He was mayor of London for eight years, what did he do in that time? He built a cable car to nowhere, which is a huge loss of money. And the ArcelorMittal revolving thing overlooking the Olympic site.

“He just sat there for eight years promoting himself.”

On Thursday, the Standard revealed Mr Johnson will be probed by the Conservative Party over a possible breach of its conduct following his remarks.

And protesters gathered in his Uxbridge constituency demanding he step down. More than 30 protesters chanted "ban Boris" and carried placards which read "my dress my choice".