ROWAN ATKINSON is absolutely right.

He is right that we must be free to make fun of ­religion.

13 Rowan Atkinson was right to defend Boris Johnson and the right to make fun of religion, says Brendan O'Neill Credit: Getty - Contributor

He is right that freedom of speech must include the liberty to laugh at religious ideas.

And he is right that Boris Johnson should not apologise for his risqué comments about the burka and niqab.

“All jokes about religion cause offence, so it’s pointless apologising for them,” the actor said. And, again, he’s right.

The Blackadder star’s intervention into burkagate, into the furious controversy over Boris’s mick-take of the burka, is a breath of fresh air.

13 Boris Johnson should not apologise for his risque comments about the burka and niqab, says Brendan O'Neill Credit: AFP or licensors

Burka-wearing scientist Sahar Al-Faifi says Boris Johnson's comments are making Muslim women 'dehumanised' and like 'criminals'

It came in a letter to The Times. Breaking with the choking PC consensus that says Boris comments on the niqab and burka were tantamount to a speech crime, Rowan said that they were actually pretty funny.

In his newspaper column last week, Boris said it would be wrong for the Government to ban the niqab or burqa in public places.

13 The Blackadder star’s intervention into burkagate, into the furious controversy over Boris’s mick-take of the burka, is a breath of fresh air, says Brendan O'Neill Credit: BBC

13 Rowan Atkinson takes charge of a fight in comedy caper Johnny English

But we should feel free, he said, to express disapproval of these “oppressive” cloaks, of these medieval, women-hiding veils. And then he did just that, in typically colourful Boris-speak.

“It is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes,” he wrote.

It is not good if young women turn up to Uni “looking like a bank robber”, he said.

The result? All hell broke loose.

13 Boris was branded a bigot, an Islamophobe, a borderline ­fascist for his comments about burqas and niqabs Credit: Getty - Contributor

13 Boris Johnson wrote: 'It is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes' Credit: AFP or licensors

Boris was branded a bigot, an Islamophobe, a borderline ­fascist. Twitter went into nuclear meltdown. The ­commentariat fumed.

There was even a protest in Boris’s constituency of Uxbridge, where a gaggle of Muslims and lefties gathered to holler for his sacking.

Calling for someone to be expelled from public life because he criticised a religious practice? Remind me again what century this is.

I guess we should be grateful no one has proposed putting Boris in the stocks and pelting him with rotten fruit for his blasphemy against Islam. Well, not yet.

13 The Tory party will be holding an investigation into Mr Johnson's controversial remarks Credit: Getty Images - Getty

13 Some women took to the streets to protest against Boris Johnson's 'racist' remarks Credit: Getty Images - Getty

PM Theresa May says former foreign secretary Boris Johnson ‘was wrong’ over burka comments and has ‘caused offence’

Before long, even his own Conservative Party was calling on him to issue a public retraction — like those heretics of old who were made to self-flagellate in public for their thought crimes against religious orthodoxy.

His words “clearly caused offence”, said Theresa May.

This is no doubt bound up with Tory infighting over Brexit.

The Prime Minister is still peeved at Boris over his resignation as Foreign Secretary after she unveiled her softer-than-soft Brexit ­proposals last month.

But the Tory fury with Boris, alongside the Boris-mauling Twitterstorm, also tells us something important about the state of freedom of speech. It reveals how flimsy the establishment’s commitment to this essential liberty is.

13 Theresa May said that Boris Johnson's words 'clearly caused offence' Credit: AFP

Philip May risks a diplomatic gaffe by telling French president Emmanuel Macron that his ceremonial cannon was to 'stop the English'

Indeed, the witch-hunting of Boris is far more shrill and intolerant than anything he actually said.

In his column, Boris actually defended Muslim women’s rights.

He said that however much we might dislike the niqab or burka, we should not ban women from wearing them. He made a liberal argument.

His detractors, in contrast, are the definition of illiberal. They want Boris shamed and sacked on the basis that he committed an act of “wrong-think”.

13 Monty Python’s Life Of Brian also pokes fun at religion Credit: Alamy

13 Irish comic Dave Allen’s routines mock the church Credit: ITV

The Oxford Dictionary defines a bigot as someone who is “intolerant to those holding different opinions”.

That is a better description of the anti-Boris mob than it is of the man himself. This Boris-bashing bigotry confirms that the chattering classes have turned their backs on free speech — especially when it comes to Islam.

The use of the term ­“Islamophobia” to demonise any ­criticism of Islamic beliefs, and the shushing of open debate even about Islamist terrorism or Muslim grooming gangs, suggests Islam is increasingly being ring-fenced from questioning.

We are witnessing the return of blasphemy law by the back door, only now it protects Islam rather than Christianity.

13 Rowan Atkinson might be best known for playing dweebs — Mr Bean, Johnny English — but we now know he is brave, says Brendan O'Neill Credit: Kobal Collection - Shutterstock

Mr Bean is back with trip to Palace

Into this fray, brilliantly, comes Rowan. He might be best known for playing dweebs — Mr Bean, Johnny English — but we now know he is brave.

To defend the politician after a week of Borisphobia — we can all play the “phobia” game! — took real guts.

And, of course, he is not only defending Boris — he is defending freedom of speech.

For years he has been raising concerns about how new laws against offensive speech could make comedy impossible.

And as a “lifelong beneficiary of the freedom to make jokes”, as he described himself in his Times letter yesterday, he finds that scary. As we all should.

This Boris-bashing bigotry confirms that the chattering classes have turned their backs on free speech — especially when it comes to Islam

Our ancestors fought for press freedom, political freedom and, yes, the right to blaspheme and disbelieve in gods and ­prophets.

It is a freedom expressed by Monty Python’s Life Of Brian and Irish comic Dave Allen’s routines mocking the church.

We cannot now cast these historic liberties aside in the name of never causing offence to Muslims, or any other social group.

So thank you, Mr Atkinson, for standing up for free speech and its naughty offspring — the right to be offensive.

Lessons on gender for 5-yr-olds is textbook PC CAN you think of anything dafter to say to a five-year-old than: “Your gender is what you decide”? The Scottish government is planning to educate primary-school kids about gender diversity. Teachers will tell pupils the doctor who said “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl” when they were born might have been wrong because, sometimes, people decide later in life that they were born the wrong sex.

Children think in binary terms. Mother/father. Girl/boy. Pink/blue. That is how they make sense of an otherwise confusing world. Sometimes political correctness is just cruel.

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13 Jean-Claude Juncker blamed his sciatica for looking wobbly on his feet at a Nato summit Credit: Reuters

I LOVE Jean-Claude Juncker’s explanation for why he was seen wobbling about and looking worse for wear at a Nato summit last month.

It is due to sciatica, the European Commission president says.

Don’t we all, Jean-Claude? In fact, just the other night I was sciaticaed out of my mind.

I’m thinking of staying in for the next couple of weekends, to keep my sciatica under control...

Fragile Jean Claude Juncker has to be helped down steps at EU summit