Robert Jenrick lashes out on GB News over el-Fattah being allowed to come back to the UK as historic tweets emerge |ย
Sir Keir Starmer said he was โdelightedโ to welcome the โextremistโ to Britain
Nigel Farage has written to the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, urging her to revoke the British citizenship of Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah and order his deportation from the United Kingdom.
The Reform UK leader said he was โdeeply concernedโ by Mr Abd el-Fattahโs return to Britain following his release from detention in Egypt.
Sir Keir Starmer had earlier said he was โdelightedโ to welcome Mr Abd el-Fattah to the UK after Cairo lifted a travel ban, thanking President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for his role in securing the activistโs release.
Mr Farage described that response as โan extraordinary error of judgmentโ, pointing to historic social media posts allegedly written by Mr Abd el-Fattah between 2010 and 2012.
Those posts, which have circulated widely online since his arrival, include comments calling for the killing of Zionists, referring to British people as โdogs and monkeysโ, and suggesting that police should be killed.
Mr Abd el-Fattah has also been accused of expressing support for suicide bombings.
โThese abhorrent posts show Mr el-Fattah to hold views which are completely opposed to our British way of life,โ Mr Farage wrote.
He added that claims Downing Street had been unaware of the comments only โcompound the Prime Ministerโs ineptitudeโ.
Nigel Farage has written to the Home Secretary
The Reform UK leader also criticised the breadth of political support that had previously been mobilised on Mr Abd el-Fattahโs behalf.
His letter notes that 35 Labour MPs and peers wrote to the then foreign secretary, David Lammy, calling for his release, alongside six Conservative MPs, 34 Liberal Democrat parliamentarians, seven SNP MPs and all four Green Party MPs.
โIndeed, it was the Conservatives who granted citizenship to Mr el-Fattah in 2021 while he was still imprisoned,โ Mr Farage wrote.
โThat none of those parties carried out basic due diligence on this unpleasant individual is, frankly, astonishing.โ
Nigel Farage wants el-Fattahโs deportation |ย PA
Mr Abd el-Fattah became a British citizen through his mother, who was born in the UK, under a legal route that grants automatic citizenship by descent.
At the time, applicants using this route were no longer subject to the usual โgood characterโ test, following a Supreme Court ruling that the requirement breached the European Convention on Human Rights. As a result, Home Office officials did not assess his past statements or conduct.
Mr Farage argued that the Home Secretary has the power to act now. โIt should go without saying that anyone who possesses racist and anti-British views such as those of Mr el-Fattah should not be allowed into the UK,โ he wrote.
โAs Home Secretary, it is within your power to revoke his citizenship and order his deportation. I strongly urge you to do so.โ
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi |ย REUTERSThe controversy has reignited calls from Conservative figures to leave the ECHR, which Labour opposes.
Jewish groups have also demanded that Mr Abd el-Fattahโs citizenship be reviewed. No 10 has said the Prime Minister was unaware of the social media posts when he welcomed Mr Abd el-Fattah to Britain, where he is due to be reunited with his teenage son.
The Home Office has not yet indicated whether it will consider revoking his citizenship, but Mr Farage has confirmed he has referred the matter to counter-terrorism police, ensuring the issue is unlikely to fade quickly from the political agenda.
