LONDON — Republican strategist Steve Bannon weighed in on British politics Sunday, defending former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s comments about Muslim face veils and praising a contentious far-right leader.
The former aide to President Donald Trump said Johnson had “nothing to apologize for” and should not “bow at the altar of political correctness” after he was criticized for saying women who wear burqas look like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers.”
Johnson made the comments in a newspaper column that argued against banning full-face veils, as Denmark has done.
“Excuse me, didn’t he actually support the wearing of the veil?” Bannon told the Sunday Times. “His entire argument revolves around not wanting to ban the burqa, but arguing that he agrees that it’s an oppressive garment and that there is no scriptural basis for it in the Quran, which is true. I think the substance got lost because of his throwaway line.”
Johnson has been criticized by Muslim groups and politicians, including Prime Minister Theresa May, who urged Johnson to apologize. Johnson’s representatives said he won’t apologize.
“The hysterical mainstream media can never separate the ‘signal from the noise’ — fortunately, the populists can,” Bannon said.
Bannon has said he wants to establish a Europe-wide movement uniting populist and nationalist voters in European elections next year.
Johnson, a former mayor of London, is one of Britain’s bestknown politicians and is often cited as a potential candidate for prime minister. He quit May’s Conservative government last month in a dispute over the country’s departure from the European Union.
Bannon also praised contentious U.K. figure Tommy Robinson, founder of the now-defunct English Defense League.
Robinson, 35, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a self-styled commentator whose YouTube channel includes videos purporting to show him fighting migrants in Italy and being attacked by masked men outside a McDonald’s restaurant in London.