Let me enter the debate swirling around Boris Johnson’s comments about the burka.

First, I defend his right to say what he did.

Second, this torrent of phoney outrage is nothing more than political manoeuvrings of the most wilful kind by his enemies.

If you read his column in the Daily Telegraph, you would see that he was defending the right to wear a burka, saying those who want it banned are wrong.

Mr Johnson clearly believes in tolerance, unlike his detractors who intentionally do their level best to turn humour into offence.

Encapsulated in every human rights’ declaration is a quote attributed to Voltaire and one that I agree with passionately.

“I may not like what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it.”

Short of actually inciting violence or hate in this country, we’re free to say and think what we want.

Only three years ago, two million people marched through Paris under the banner, “Je suis Charlie.”

They were defending free speech, for which journalists on the irreverent magazine Charlie Hebdo were slaughtered by people who’d taken offence.

Instead of humour, the murderers found blasphemy and exacted their revenge.

Among the marchers was the then Home Secretary Theresa May, who spoke up for freedom of speech.

Back in the UK, Britain’s first Muslim cabinet member, Baroness Warsi, wrote in the Sun: “We live in a liberal democracy, where giving and taking offence is part and parcel of everyday life.”

Yet in the past few days, both politicians have taken a rather different stance, calling for Mr Johnson to be sanctioned.

The day humour dies, so, too, does free speech.