Ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw set the cat among the pigeons today:
The Blackburn MP says the veil is a “visible statement of separation and of difference” and he asks women visiting his surgery to consider removing it.
Asking women to consider showing the mouths and noses could lead to true “face-to-face” conversations with constituents, enabling him to “see what the other person means, and not just hear what they say”.
He said he made sure he had a female colleague in the room when asking someone to show their mouth and nose – and his constituents had so far always agreed to do so.
George Galloway is outraged:
Who does Jack Straw think he is to tell his female constituents that he would prefer they disrobe before they meet him,” says Respect MP George Galloway. “For that is what this amounts to. It is a male politician telling women to wear less.
Tommy Sheridan was unavailable for comment.
