George Galloway yesterday laid into the Mayor of London Boris Johnson‘s proposal to take the children of ‘radicalised’ parents into care, calling it an “Islamophobic charge”.

Speaking on Russia Today, he said that the idea that the state in a democratic country should intervene in such matters was “deeply repugnant”, adding that such rhetoric is more in-keeping with a “swivel-eyed, goose-stepping fascist” than with someone widely tipped to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

Johnson’s attack has already been widely condemned, including by the Muslim Council of Britain, who said that the article risked inflaming anti-Muslim feeling. Johnson’s article itself began with a reference to the killers of Lee Rigby, but went on largely to refer to Islamic extremism, a false dichotomy which Galloway picked up on when he pointed out that the killers had been brought up as Christians.

Johnson’s article in The Daily Telegraph has been seen as part of a wider attempt to muddy the waters of the immigration debate. Following the murder of Lee Rigby last May, there was an upsurge in Islamophobic attacks in Britain and there is a feeling that the terms of the debate are deliberately conflated for political reasons, blurring the distinctions between immigrants, ethnic minorities and Muslims – the vast majority of whom have British citizenship.

In the interview, Galloway reiterated his observation that if these killers had instead gone to Syria, Johnson’s Conservative Party government would have paid their air fares and given them the money and wherewithal to commit similar brutal acts there.

It is not the first time that Galloway has been critical of Johnson; just last month, he hit out at Johnson’s behaviour in relation to the proposed strikes on the London Underground on BBC’s Question Time, commenting that “this is what happens if you elect a clown, and it’s not very funny…”.

The attack comes in the week that several papers have reported that Johnson has been asked to contest the seat of Henley at the next general election rather than stand again for Mayor of London in 2016. Johnson is, of course, no stranger to gaffes, but his buffoonish demeanour often hides a more sinister character. With views such as these, we have to hope that the British public won’t be fooled again if he ever stands to become the next Prime Minister.