A former Conservative minister has said Sir Keir Starmer should concentrate on banning ‘Islamist hate preachers’ from coming to the UK after Kanye West was blocked from entering the UK.

Speaking on GB News Sir Ranil Jayawardena said:
“it’s not my sort of music, so I don’t know whether he’s any good or not, but I think some of what he has said is deeply unpleasant.

“I’m all for Britain and the British government flexing its muscles to control who we have in this country if their presence is not going to be conducive to the public good.

“Shabana Mahmood seems to be doing a very good job of toughening up our laws in the face of huge opposition from her own back benches.

“But the question I would pose is if we’re going to stop Kanye West coming to this country, then why do we not also stop more of the Islamic hate preachers and others who come to this country from entering and doing what they want to do?

“Because I have to say, as distasteful as Kanye West may be, some of the other people might pose much greater danger to the country in terms of radicalising people here to commit potentially terrorist acts.

“I have not read, not seen published, any specific rationale, any particular legal test that the Home Secretary followed to get to this point on this particular individual versus others.

“But I do think, and I hope, actually, I have confidence in Shabana Mahmood, I hope that she would take tougher action tomorrow than previous Home Secretaries have done in yesteryear.

“Clearly it’s also very important to differentiate between British citizens and people who are not. And clearly a British citizen who believes terrible things and preaches terrible things or leads protests on terrible things, they still have a right to be here, whether we like it or not.

“But people who are here because we haven’t given them permission to be through a visa or other means, we should be much tougher in taking action.”