Three weeks ago Brandon Lewis broke his pregnancy pair with new mum Jo Swinson. Today the Tories have photoshopped him pink and dubbed him “the voice of women in politics”. Well done, geniuses. Surprised they didn’t put him in a pink burka…

Guido is not sure Tory members are going to react well to these words from Raab, Gove, Fox and Leadsom trying to convince them to back Chequers, in a letter that arrived in the post this morning. Some of the stuff they are saying here is just flat out untrue. Do they think their own members are stupid?

The Tories appear to be having a total mental breakdown about the burka / niqab. The new line, delivered by Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright this morning, is that it is wrong to describe it as “oppressive”. This is a very strange position for the Tory party to be taking – you have to wonder what on earth is going on. Guido is assured that Wright’s words are not the CCHQ line to take…

Prominent Muslim and feminist politicians on the left have long criticised face coverings. In 2016, Sadiq Khan said he believed the niqab could be “insidious” and asked “what is going on in those homes” where it is worn:

“When I was younger you didn’t see people in hijabs and niqabs, not even in Pakistan when I visited my family. In London we got on. People dressed the same. What you see now are people born and raised here who are choosing to wear the jilbab or niqab. There is a question to be asked about what is going on in those homes. What’s insidious is if people are starting to think it is appropriate to treat women differently or that it has been forced on them. What worries me is children being forced to adopt a lifestyle. Should women be permitted to cover their faces in London? It’s not for me to tell women what to wear. But I do think that in public service we should be able to see each other’s faces. Eye contact matters. You should be able to see the face.”

And this was Harriet Harman speaking in 2013, outlining her principled feminist opposition to the face veil as discriminatory towards women:

Yet senior Tories are now pushing the line that you can’t say the burka is oppressive. What do Tory MPs think about that? 

This was Anna Soubry on Question Time in 2013 after Ken Clarke called the burka a “bag”. She had no words of criticism for Clarke. Indeed, she backed him and said the burka is a “peculiar concept”. The Boris outrage is rank hypocrisy from Remainers who have said similar about the burka themselves in the past…

This was Ken Clarke speaking about the burka on the BBC in 2013. He criticised it as a “peculiar costume” and a “kind of bag“, said it should not be worn while giving evidence in court, but opposed a ban in public.

 “I do think it’s a most peculiar costume for people to adopt in the 21st century, but that’s not to me for decide, when they’re not engaged in some serious issue such as giving evidence. That’s the bit that I think it’s almost impossible to have a proper trial if one of the persons is in a kind of bag.”

Clarke’s language did not cause any reaction from Tory MPs at the time. Do Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen think their Remainer hero should apologise calling the burka a “bag”? Why didn’t the then Home Secretary Theresa May say Clarke should apologise? Almost as if the whole Boris row is about Brexit and the Tory leadership…

UPDATE: A few weeks back Clarke slapped down Sayeeda Warsi and said she was being “sensitive” about Tory Islamophobia. Where was the Remainer outrage then?

Prime Minister @theresa_may suggests she agrees with @BrandonLewis that @BorisJohnson should apologise for his burka comments: pic.twitter.com/xqXTmrkyMK

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) August 7, 2018

When you cut through the faux outrage and hand-wringing about Boris and the burka, it is obvious that this row is entirely about Brexit and the Tory leadership. The Tories criticising Boris are ultra-Remainers: Sayeeda Warsi, Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen, Jonathan Djanogly, Alistair Burt. Theresa May, in a carefully prepared knifing on the news last night, attempted to do in the one person she fears could deliver a proper Brexit. Mrs Go Home Vans, Windrush and “hostile environment” trying to take the moral high ground is rich.

Brandon Lewis, who is responsible for this story rumbling on with his calculated tweet attacking Boris yesterday, sees himself as the great Remain hope. Number 10, CCHQ and Remainer Tory MPs know Boris is the main threat to their soft Brexit. That is what this is about.