Mohammed Amin, the chairman of the British Conservative Muslim Forum, threatened to resign from the Conservative Party if Boris Johnson becomes the party’s leader.

Amin told the BBC that Johnson was not "sufficiently moral" to be prime minister, citing his comments comparing women wearing burkas to "letter boxes" and "bank robbers" and mentioning Turkey’s possible joining of the European Union when campaigning for Brexit.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I have been a Conservative Party member for over 36 years. We don't expect our politicians, our prime ministers, to be saints, but we do require a basic level of morality and integrity,” Amin said.

“And of all of the candidates in the Conservative Party leadership election, Boris Johnson is the only one that I believe fails that test. And I'm not prepared to be a member of a party that chooses him as its leader.”

Johnson is the front-runner in the race to replace Theresa May Theresa Mary MayAre US-Japan relations on the rocks? Trump insulted UK's May, called Germany's Merkel 'stupid' in calls: report Bolton says Boris Johnson is 'playing Trump like a fiddle' MORE as prime minister after she announced her resignation last month. He recently topped the first round of voting to be prime minister, far outpacing nine other candidates.

Voting will continue until only two contenders remain, at which point a party-wide vote will be held.



“A lot Germans thought that Hitler was the right man for them,” Amin said when asked about Johnson’s popularity among party members.

Former cabinet minister Priti Patel, who is supporting Johnson, said the comments were being twisted to derail the leadership bid.

Jonson “was certainly not mocking women in the way in which was asserted,” she told the BBC. “Language can be misused, taken out of context. But Boris himself ... he believes in equality of the sexes.”

“I'm deeply disappointed that anyone would want to leave the Conservative Party. There's nothing more divisive than a Conservative Party leadership election,” MP Andrew Bridgen, who is also backing Johnson, added.