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2026-05-04 06:34:20 UTC

Middle East Eye on Nostr: A tense LBC interview saw a UK government minister pushed over calls to ban ...

A tense LBC interview saw a UK government minister pushed over calls to ban pro-Palestine marches, with the presenter questioning why similar standards are not applied to far-right rallies.

Lewis Goodall challenged Helen Whately after she described the demonstrations as “hate marches” and tried to link them to radicalisation.

He countered by pointing to documented anti-Muslim rhetoric at some far-right protests, asking whether those would also face bans under the same reasoning.

Goodall repeatedly returned to the issue of consistency, arguing that if the presence of extreme views among some attendees is enough to justify banning one set of marches, the same principle should apply across the board.

“On the basis of that logic, would you ban Tommy Robinson’s rally?” he asked, highlighting what he framed as a clear double standard.

As Whately attempted to draw distinctions between the protests, Goodall broke down the comparison in real time, noting that calls such as “ban Islam” would also target an entire group.

She declined to directly endorse banning those rallies, instead maintaining the situations were different, while the presenter argued the underlying principle remained the same.