British Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to offer an outright apology for Islamophobic comments he made in 2018, which led to a spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes. So much of this stuff is disinterred with a view to distract from the basic issues of the election." Johnson's comments on Friday came as his ruling Conservative Party faces accusations of alleged Islamophobia in the run-up to an election on December 12. In a recent example of alleged Islamophobia, Karl McCartney, Conservative Party candidate for Lincoln, retweeted a post that claimed far-right activist Tommy Robinson had been jailed because he "dared report on Muslim paedophiles". Johnson appeared on LBC a day after he failed to participate in a televised debate on climate change on Channel 4 alongside opposition leaders.

Source: News 24 November 29, 2019 12:22 UTC