Boris Johnson was “respectful and tolerant” of Muslims in an article in which he compared women wearing burkas to “bank robbers”, an independent panel of legal experts has ruled.

The former foreign secretary was fully entitled to use “satire” to make his point in an article for The Daily Telegraph arguing that banning burkas was wrong.

The five-strong panel of senior lawyers found that Mr Johnson had been exercising his right to free speech in the article, in which he also compared burkas to “letter boxes”.

Brandon Lewis, the Conservative Party chairman, had asked the panel to investigate whether Mr Johnson had broken party rules when he wrote the column in August.

After the panel found in Mr Johnson’s favour, friends of the former minister accused Mr Lewis of conducting a “witch hunt” against him.