Source: The Guardian
By Rajeev Syal
Boris Johnson has apologised after he caused a “livid” reaction in a worshipper in a Sikh temple by discussing his enthusiasm for a boost in the whisky trade, apparently without realising that alcohol is forbidden under some Sikh teachings.
The foreign secretary, who is widely seen as having been sidelined during the election campaign over his perceived propensity for gaffes, was visiting a Sikh temple in St George’s in Bristol when he made remarks about ending tariffs on whisky traded between the UK and India.
In a BBC recording of the event, a female worshipper can be heard taking him to task, asking: “How dare you talk about alcohol in a Sikh temple?” After the unidentified woman also told him about alcoholism in her family, he apologised several times.
Pete Simson, a BBC journalist who was present, wrote on Twitter:
She’s absolutely livid. Boris Johnson apologises. “How dare you talk about alcohol in a Sikh temple.”
Johnson was visiting the Shri Guru Nanak Prakash Singh Sabha gurdwara in Bristol in an effort to woo voters from the city’s large Sikh community to the Tories.
Categories: alcoholism, Europe, Sikhism, The Muslim Times, UK