The very mildest of perfectly reasonable criticisms from British politician Jack Straw (who is normally to the left of Neville Chamberlain on appeasement issues) has got the “Islamic Human Rights Commission” (not a joke) seething and whining: Muslims outraged by Jack Straw’s veil veto. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has been accused of discrimination after revealing that he asks Muslim women to remove their veils when they visit his constituency surgery. Mr Straw said he invites the women to take their veils off because he feels “uncomfortable” about talking with someone whose face he cannot see.

But a Muslim group has said his actions are “selective discrimination”.

Mr Straw revealed his actions in a regular column for a local newspaper in his Blackburn constituency. He wrote how he is concerned the veil is a “visible statement of separation and difference”. He said wearing the full veil “was bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult.”

Mr Straw, who is Leader of the Commons, described how an incident a 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,” he wrote. “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.”

And Mr Straw said he was worried about the implications for community relations of the “increasing trend” of Muslim women wearing veils.

The Islamic Human Rights Commission said Mr Straw was “selectively discriminating.”

Chairman Massoud Shadjareh said: “It is astonishing that someone as experienced and senior as Jack Straw does not realise that the job of an elected representative is to represent the interests of the constituency, not to selectively discriminate on the basis of religion.

”Mr Straw’s comments are as objectionable as the elected representative of Stamford Hill, a predominantly Jewish constituency, requesting members of the Orthodox Jewish community to remove their religious garb when visiting the surgery.”