Sharia law is completely unacceptable in the UK

UK:   London Mayor Boris Johnson branded Sharia Law in the UK as “absolutely unacceptable” today, as he took a swipe at clerics from the Church of England for supporting the Muslim legal code.

Speaking on LBC radio this morning during his Ask Boris call-in show, Mr Johnson said a Sharia system should not even be allowed to preside over civil cases, such as those involving family disputes.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams sparked controversy in 2008 when he suggested it was "inevitable" that elements of Sharia would be incorporated in British law.

The London Mayor also called for a greater separation between government and the Church of England, saying the presence of 26 Bishops in the House of Lords were “clerical fossils”.

Mr Johnson - named by David Cameron as a possible successor as Conservative leader - told LBC radio he was opposed to "a Sharia system running in parallel with UK justice".

He said: "That is unacceptable to me. Everybody must be equal under the law, and everybody must obey the same law. That is absolutely cast-iron.

"I take grave exception to some of the support I see sometimes - and from clerics in the Church of England who've come out in favour of this, I've noticed, and said we should be a little bit indulgent of this.

"It's an interesting fact that we have some clerical fossils still in our legislature.

“Don't forget we have bishops sitting by right in our upper house. The separation of church and state is not perhaps as thorough-going in this country as you might like to think.

"The point is that the idea of a parallel system of law, a parallel judicature, people making the laws holding to a different system, is absolutely unacceptable, it's alien to our traditions.

“I won't have it in London and I'm worried sometimes by the faint bat-squeaks of support that I hear for that idea even from clerics in the Church of England."

Mr Johnson made the comments a day after Home Secretary Theresa May called for an investigation into the application of Sharia law in England and Wales.

Asked if Jewish Beth Din courts - which also settle civil disputes - would "have to go", Mr Johnson replied: "Yes, absolutely. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."

He said he accepted that Jewish couples could go to a Beth Din to seek sanction for their divorce, but added: "It cannot substitute for UK civil proceedings.

"They cannot replace the civil proceedings. If they want to have some ceremonial proceeding according to religious ritual or whatever, that is fine. But the actual implementation of the law has got to be done in British courts according to British law, agreed by Parliament.

"That is where the law emanates from. The law emanates in the end from people voting for MPs who enact the statutes which we all obey. That gives this country a vital equality."