Keir Starmer has been told to block Kanye West from entering Britain in order to prevent him performing in London this summer.
The Prime Minister is being urged to bar the American rapper from the UK by deeming him a person who is ‘not conducive to the public good’.
West, also known as Ye or Yeezy, has drawn widespread criticism in recent years after he began voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler and made a series of anti-Semitic remarks.
He is set to top the bill for all three nights of Wireless Festival in London’s Finsbury Park in July.
Pepsi and Diageo withdrew their sponsorship of the festival after West was announced as the headline act.
The PM himself joined criticism of the event saying it is ‘deeply concerning’ that West is due to perform ‘despite his previous anti-Semitic remarks and celebration of Nazism’.
Sir Keir is now under growing pressure to take legal steps to ensure West can’t enter the UK ahead of his summer gigs.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has powers to ‘exclude’ someone from Britain if they are not considered conducive to the public good.
This can include those who have ‘engaged in extremism or other unacceptable behaviour’, or someone who ‘if admitted to the UK the person is likely to incite public disorder’.
A person does not need to have a criminal conviction to be refused admission on non-conducive grounds, according to Home Office guidance.
Senior Tory MP Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, wrote to Ms Mahmood on Monday to use her powers to block West from entering the UK.
He wrote: ‘Given his repeated anti-Semitic remarks, including statements expressing sympathy for Nazi ideology, his return to the UK is deeply concerning.
‘This is not a one-off lapse, but a pattern of behaviour that has caused real offence and distress to Jewish communities.
‘His partial apologies have been retracted in the past and do not atone for what he has said.’
Mr Philp added: ‘At a time when anti-Semitism is rising in the UK, allowing someone with this track record to headline a major public event sends entirely the wrong message.’
Labour backbencher Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We cannot allow these performers to have a platform.
‘And that’s why it’s absolutely right that the PM has said that that festival, the Wireless Festival, should cancel that performer.
‘But also he should not be allowed to come to our country to perform in the light of the anti-Semitic comments that he has made and recorded.’
Asked whether Ms Mahmood should step in to refuse West a visa should he apply for one, Ms Maskell said: ‘I think it is clear, whether it’s in our cultural life or across society, that we should have zero tolerance for any form of antisemitism and therefore it is absolutely right that the Home Secretary takes the right considerations should an application be lodged.’
She added: ‘The Home Secretary should take appropriate steps should that occurrence happen.’
Luke Akehurst, Labour MP for North Durham, told The Telegraph: ‘It’s certainly an option we should be looking at given he’s gone from being one of the world’s most impressive artists to releasing a song called ‘Heil Hitler’.’
In a post on X, the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said: ‘The PM is right to be deeply concerned that Wireless Festival wants to headline someone whose anti-Jewish bigotry has gone as far as recording a track titled ‘Heil Hitler’ less than a year ago.
‘But the PM is not a bystander. The Government can ban anyone from entering the UK who is not a citizen and whose presence would ‘not be conducive to the public good’. Surely this is a clear case.’
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also called on the Government to ban West from the UK. ‘We need to get tougher on anti-Semitism,’ he said.
Lord Austin of Dudley described the possibility of the rapper being ‘cheered by thousands of kids’ on a UK stage a ‘complete disgrace’.
The ex-Labour MP, who is the UK’s trade envoy to Israel, told The Telegraph: ‘The organisers should cancel his invitation and if not, the council should not allow the festival to go ahead.
‘But either way the Government should prevent him from coming to the UK.’
Nimco Ali, a former Government adviser, called on Wireless to reverse its decision to book West ‘immediately’.
She said: ‘Allowing Kanye West entry into the country risks giving him a platform to amplify hate on British soil.’
Ms Ali added that ‘accountability is not persecution’, and that racism should be condemned ‘in all its forms’.
She also said, if Britain is serious about protecting its Jewish community, then it must be clear that there ‘is no place for this kind of hatred’ on British soil.
West has not performed in the UK since he headlined Glastonbury in 2015.
Last year, he released a song called Heil Hitler, a few months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
He has been barred from social media site X over anti-Semitism on multiple occasions.
West is said, as of last week, to have not yet made a visa application for his trip to the UK.
In January this year, West took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal apologising for anti-Semitic behaviour.
In an open letter titled ‘To Those I’ve Hurt’, West attributed his inflammatory actions to bipolar disorder, which he said he developed as a result of an injury sustained in a car crash 25 years ago.
‘I am not a Nazi or an anti-Semite,’ he wrote, adding: ‘I love Jewish people.’
He previously made an apology to the Jewish community in 2023 in a social media statement posted in Hebrew.
West went on to begin selling swastika t-shirts on his website in February 2025.
Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said it was ‘absolutely the wrong decision’ for Wireless to book West.
He said the Government should ‘show mettle on tackling anti-Semitism’ and consider ‘blocking him from entering the country’.
Mr Rosenberg told Newsnight: ‘We’re in this moment of really high levels of antisemitism.
‘So to have someone whose recent track record is, as you said, declaring himself a Nazi, putting out a song called ‘Heil Hitler’, seems to be absolutely the wrong decision and many Jewish people will worry that that will just inflame what is already a very febrile situation.’
He added: ‘I’m very sympathetic to the challenges he has with mental health and bipolar disorder. But the challenge is maybe he’s not in complete control of his ability to do those things.
‘And we’re really worried that on stage at the Wireless Festival, he’ll suddenly come out with more of these things. And the organisers really need to think carefully about this.’
