Context is all. Boris Johnson is one of half a dozen people in Britain who could be the next prime minister. There are plenty of people determined to stop him. So when he exposes his flank to attack, he is duly attacked. This is why a couple of throwaway phrases in a Daily Telegraph column have made headline news for more than a week. He said the burka makes the Muslim women who wear them look like a letter box or a bank robber, but, even though it was a ridiculous garment, it should not be banned.

It was, said some of his fiercest critics, a typical example of Tory Islamophobia.