Editorial in today’s Sun:

TONY Blair yesterday threw his weight behind Jack Straw’s call for Muslim women to drop the veil. The Prime Minister backed the school chiefs who suspended a teacher for refusing to remove her mask in front of pupils. The veil, he said, is a visible statement of separation and is “incompatible” with life in Britain, echoing Mr Straw’s earlier concerns.

Modern Muslim women agree the veil is a primitive throwback to an age when their oppressed sisters were treated little better than slaves. In benighted parts of the world, they still are.

Britain has a hard-won heritage of fairness and equal rights. It is the main reason so many migrants came here in the first place. Those who have taken advantage of such privileges must not be allowed to turn back the clock. It’s time to take a leaf out of Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s book. And tell extremists that if they want to live under Sharia law, they can’t live here.