Keir Starmer told to BAN Kanye West from Britain in order to stop him performing London gig due to rapper’s history of anti-Semitism

Keir Starmer has been told to block Kanye West from entering the UK to prevent him from performing in London this summer.

The Prime Minister is being asked to ban the American rapper from the UK, calling him a person “not in the public interest”.

West, also known as Ye or Yeezy, has faced widespread criticism in recent years after he began expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler and made a series of anti-Semitic statements.

It will top the bill for the three-night Wireless Festival in London’s Finsbury Park in July.

Pepsi and Diageo withdrew their sponsorships of the festival after West headlined.

The Prime Minister agreed with the criticism of the event, saying it was ‘deeply concerning’ that West was performing ‘despite his previous anti-Semitic statements and celebration of Nazism’.

Sir Keir is now under increasing pressure to take legal steps to ensure West is not allowed into the UK ahead of his summer concerts.

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood has the power to ‘exclude’ someone from the UK who is deemed unconducive to the public interest.

This may include those ‘engaged in extremism or other unacceptable behaviour’ or those ‘likely to disturb public order if the person is admitted to the UK’.

According to Home Office guidance, a person does not need to have a criminal conviction to be refused admission on unfavorable grounds.

Rachael Maskell, Labor MP for York Central, He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We cannot allow these artists to have a platform.

‘That’s why it’s absolutely right for the Prime Minister to say Wireless Festival should cancel this artist.

‘But he should also not be allowed to come to our country to demonstrate in light of the anti-Semitic comments he has made and recorded.’

Asked whether Ms Mahmood should be refused a visa if she applied for a visa to the West, Ms Maskell said: ‘It is clear that we must have zero tolerance for any form of antisemitism, whether in our cultural life or in society at large, and so it is absolutely right that the Home Secretary should make the correct assessments should an application be made.’

He added: ‘If such an incident occurs, the Home Secretary must take the necessary steps.’

Luke Akehurst, Labor MP for North Durham, told The Telegraph: ‘Given that he’s gone from being one of the world’s most influential artists to releasing a song called ‘Heil Hitler’, it’s certainly an option we should consider.’

In a post on Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA)

‘But the Prime Minister is not a spectator. The government can ban entry to the UK to anyone who is not a citizen and whose presence is not ‘conducive to the public interest’. Of course this is an obvious case.’

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also called on the Government to ban Westerners from entering the UK. ‘We need to act harder against anti-Semitism,’ he said.

Dudley’s Lord Austin described the prospect of the rapper being ‘clapped by thousands of kids’ on the UK stage as ‘an absolute disgrace’.

The former Labor MP, who is Britain’s trade envoy for Israel, told The Telegraph: ‘The organizers must rescind his invitation or the council must not allow the festival to take place.

‘But either way the Government should prevent him from coming to the UK.’

Nimco Ali, a former Government adviser, has called on Wireless to reverse its decision to book West ‘immediately’.

He said: ‘Allowing Kanye West into the country risks giving him a platform to amplify hatred on British soil.’

Ms Ali added that ‘responsibility is not oppression’ and that racism should be condemned ‘in all its forms’.

He also said that if Britain was serious about protecting its Jewish community then it should be clear that ‘this kind of hatred has no place’ on British soil.

West hasn’t performed in the UK since taking over at Glastonbury in 2015.

Last year, he released a song called Heil Hitler, a few months after advertising the sale of a swastika T-shirt on his website.

He has been banned from social media site X multiple times due to anti-Semitism.

It is said that West has not yet applied for a visa for his trip to England as of last week.

In January of this year, West took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal apologizing for his anti-Semitic behavior.

In an open letter titled ‘To My Hurts’, West attributed his inflammatory actions to bipolar disorder, which he said he developed as a result of an injury he suffered in a car accident 25 years ago.

‘I am not a Nazi or an anti-Semite,’ he wrote, adding: ‘I love the Jewish people.’

He had previously apologized to the Jewish community in a statement published in Hebrew on social media in 2023.

West began selling swastika T-shirts on his website in February 2025.

Phil Rosenberg, chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said Wireless’s booking of West was “absolutely the wrong decision”.

He said the government must ‘show determination in combating anti-Semitism’ and consider ‘preventing it from entering the country’.

Mr Rosenberg told Newsnight: ‘We are in a period of really high levels of antisemitism.

‘So, as you say, having someone who recently declared himself a Nazi and released a song called ‘Heil Hitler’ seems absolutely the wrong decision, and many Jews will be concerned that this will further inflame what is already a very heated situation.’

He added: ‘I very much understand the difficulties he has with his mental health and bipolar disorder. But the problem is that maybe he doesn’t have full control over his ability to do these things.

‘And we’re really worried that he’ll suddenly bring out more of these on stage at the Wireless Festival. Organizers need to think really carefully about this.’