Sajid Javid condemns magazine column suggesting Muslim people should be deterred from voting

Chancellor Sajid Javid has denounced a column in news magazine The Spectator suggesting that elections should be held on Muslim holy days in order to deter them from voting.

The column, by right-wing controversialist Rod Liddle, was also criticised by the magazine’s own assistant editor as neither “funny or worth writing”.

Liddle was also branded "racist and misogynistic" by Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who he dismissively described in the article as “sobbing and oppressed”, in an apparent reference to her decision to speak out about her experience of domestic abuse.

The article suggested – in what appears to have been an attempt at humour – that elections should be held at a time when the Muslim and student vote could be minimised, in order to improve Conservative chances of victory.

“My own choice of election date would be a day when universities are closed and Muslims are forbidden to do anything on pain of hell, or something,” said Mr Liddle.

“There must one at least one day like that in the Muslim calendar, surely? That would deliver at least 40 seats to the Tories, I reckon.”

Mr Javid - who is himself Muslim – took to Twitter to retort: “Not clear if the Rod Liddle comment is supposed to be a joke – but it’s not funny and not acceptable. No community in our country should be put down that way.”

And Spectator assistant editor Isabel Hardman said: “I profoundly disagree with and am hugely upset by Rod Liddle’s piece.

“I have nothing to do with pieces that go into the magazine other than the ones I write myself, but do not want anyone to think I somehow agree with what he has said about Muslims voting, and I do not believe they are funny or worth writing.

“Similarly, I know personally just how strong and brave survivors of domestic abuse are, and Rosie Duffield is one of the finest among us.”

Canterbury MP Ms Duffield was widely praised for a speech to the House of Commons last month in which she described the verbal abuse, humiliation and financial control she suffered at the hands of a former partner.

Speaker John Bercow described her account as "moving", while Mother of the House Harriet Harman said: “What she said just now will save lives. We are incredibly proud of her.”

But in comments suggesting university students should be discouraged from voting in general elections, Mr Liddle wrote: "It was principally the student vote that won Canterbury for the sobbing and oppressed Rosie 'MeToo' Duffield. Please don't let that happen again."

Ms Duffield said: "This is particularly tasteless from a grown man who should know better. Racist and misogynist in just a few lines."

Mr Liddle - who once accepted a police caution for assault after a row with his pregnant partner - posted a response to the criticisms on The Spectator’s website, but it was placed behind a paywall, so that anyone wishing to hear his defence would have to take out a subscription to the magazine to read it.

Mr Javid previously criticised Boris Johnson for his comments in a newspaper article comparing veil-wearing Muslim women to letterboxes and bank robbers, saying: ”I think they’re wrong. I don’t think any serious politician should use language like that."

The Independent Press Standards Organisation said that by Friday morning it had received four complaints about Mr Liddle's column.