Veiled threat

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was at the centre of an extraordinary row last night after he revealed that he asks Muslim women to remove their veils during meetings. Mr Straw said he invites the women to take their veils off when they visit his constituency because he feels 'uncomfortable' about talking with someone whose face he cannot see.

The Blackburn MP, who represents large numbers of Muslims, warned that the full veil - know as a niqab - was a 'visible statement of separation and difference.' He added that it 'was bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult.'

But Mr Straw's comments provoked an angry backlash from Muslim human right groups who accused the Labour MP of discrimination.

The former Foreign Secretary has boasted of his strong ties with the Muslim community and is considered one of the most sympathetic members of the Government to its views. Mr Straw, who was writing a regular column for his local newspaper the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, described how an incident one year ago made him reconsider his views on the issue.

He said a veiled woman greeted him: 'It's really nice to meet you face-to-face, Mr Straw.'

'It was not the first time I had conducted an interview with someone in a full veil, but this particular encounter, though very polite and respectful on both sides, got me thinking.'

'In part, this was because of the apparent incongruity between the signals which indicate common bonds - the entirely English accent, the couples' education (wholly in the UK) - and the fact of the veil.

'Above all it was because I felt uncomfortable about talking to someone face-to-face who I could not see.'