Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw provoked an angry reaction yesterday after he revealed he asks Muslim women to remove their veils when they visit his constituency surgery.

Mr Straw said he feels "uncomfortable" about talking with someone whose face he cannot see, and described the veil as a "visible statement of separation and difference".

A Muslim group accused Mr Straw of "selectively discriminating", and Muslim leaders in the politician's Blackburn constituency said many Muslim women would find his comments "offensive and disturbing".

But another Muslim group said it thought Mr Straw's comments were "understandable".

The Leader of the Commons made the comments in a regular column for his local newspaper, the Lancashire Telegraph.

He said wearing the full veil was "bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult".

He said he was worried about the wider implications for community relations of the "increasing trend" of Muslim women dressing with a veil.

The Lancashire Council of Mosques said Mr Straw had "misunderstood" the issue and it was "deeply concerned" by his "very insensitive and unwise" statement.

"For such a seasoned and astute politician to make such a comment that has shocked his Muslim constituents seems ill-judged and misconceived," a spokesman said.

"We fully support the right of Muslim women to choose to follow this precept of their faith in adopting the full veil, which causes no harm to anyone.

"It is their human right to do so. Many of these women find Mr Straw's comments both offensive and disturbing."

He said by asking them to remove the veil, Mr Straw was denying female Muslim constituents their democratic right to speak to their MP.

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

Chairman Massoud Shadjareh said his comments were as objectionable as an Orthodox Jew being asked to remove their religious garb.

Other Muslim groups said they were less concerned by the comments.

Dr Daud Abdullah, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said he understood Mr Straw's views.

"This veil does cause some discomfort to non-Muslims. One can understand this," he said.

"Even within the Muslim community the scholars have different views on this.

"There are those who believe it is obligatory for the Muslim woman to cover her face.

"Others say she is not obliged to cover up. It's up to the woman to make the choice.

"Our view is that if it is going to cause discomfort and that can be avoided, then it can be done. The veil over the hair is obligatory."

Mr Straw said a meeting with a veiled woman had made him reconsider his views.

"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 couple's 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."

Mr Straw said he now asks, with a female member of staff present, for the women to remove their veils, and has not yet had anyone refuse him.