Banning Valentina Gomez is not only justified, it is well overdue

The Home Secretary’s decision to revoke Valentina Gomez’s visa and bar her from entering the United Kingdom is correct. She is a foul racist and her presence in the UK is plainly not conducive to the public good. But the more important question is why it took so long and why she was allowed into…

Valentina Gomez with Tommy Robinson
Valentina Gomez with Tommy Robinson

The Home Secretary’s decision to revoke Valentina Gomez’s visa and bar her from entering the United Kingdom is correct. She is a foul racist and her presence in the UK is plainly not conducive to the public good.

But the more important question is why it took so long and why she was allowed into the country only last month after she had apparently called for Keir Starmer to be killed.

Withdrew permission

Gomez was recently authorised to travel to the UK to speak at Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally, scheduled for 16 May in London, but the Home Secretary withdrew that permission yesterday.

Valentina Gomez
Valentina Gomez boasts she has a visa to enter the UK for Tommy Robinson’s march

Nothing, however, that emerged in recent weeks is at all new.

Gomez spoke at the last Unite the Kingdom in September, telling the crowd that “rapist Muslims” were “taking over” the UK and urging police officers to stop following orders.

She called on English people to “fight or die” against “Muslim rapists and terrorists,” and branded Prime Minister Keir Starmer “the biggest paedophile protector in history.”

Should have known

These were not private remarks. They were delivered from a stage to tens of thousands of people, amplified online, and widely reported. The Home Office knew, or should have known, exactly who it was admitting when it initially issued her latest visa.

Liam Tuffs, Ant Middleton at Tommy Robinson's 'Unite the Kingdom' 13 September 2025
Liam Tuffs, Ant Middleton and Valentina Gomez at Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally last September

That the government initially waved her through is troubling in itself. It required sustained pressure from Muslim MPs and anti-racism campaigners to force a reversal that should have been the instinctive response in the first place.

Damning timeline

Perhaps most damning is the timeline. On 1 March, Elon Musk posted “Another one bites the dust”, referring to the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei by Israel.

Tommy Robinson, touring the US, reposted it, beneath which Gomez added the comment “@KeirStarmer is next.”

Valentina Gomez calls for Starmer to be killed

This could only be read as a call for Keir Starmer to be killed. Yet Gomez was permitted to visit the United Kingdom later that same month when she appeared in an interview with the far-right podcaster James English.

Valentina Gomez interviewed by james English
Valentina Gomez interviewed by James English in late March

In a post published in March 2026, she also directed a torrent of abuse at Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, describing her as a “dirty” Muslim and stating: “No nation has ever benefitted from bringing in dirty Muslims like you (Shabana). You came to a Christian country and took an oath on the Quran.”

The suggestion that the UK government lacked sufficient grounds to act before April is simply not credible.

Valentina Gomez in London
Valentina Gomez in London in late March

The grounds existed since September 2025.

They were compounded in March 2026.

The government chose, for whatever reason, not to act on them.

Allowing a figure who had already threatened the Prime Minister, abused the Home Secretary in grossly sectarian terms, and attempted to incite a mass rally against British Muslims to enter the country a second time would not have been a demonstration of liberal tolerance.

It would have been an abject failure of government.


Professor Colin Holmes

Professor Colin Holmes
Everyone who wants to understand contemporary racism and its historical background needs to read Searchlight.
Professor Colin Holmes
University of Sheffield

Alf Dubs

Lord Alf Dubs

Searchlight’s voice is more important than ever, and I am delighted that it will now be available to a wider audience than ever before in its new incarnation online. Searchlight has been extremely helpful over the years in exposing the far right, corruption, criminality and the murky links between organised crime and powerful interests in the UK and abroad. I wish Searchlight the very best.

Alf Dubs
Labour peer, former MP and Cabinet Minister, and Kindertransport child

Nick Davies

Nick Davies

To investigate fascists takes real courage and unusual commitment. The government, police, mainstream media occasionally take a look, but in the UK only Searchlight have kept at it, relentlessly and admirably, regardless of threat or obstacle. It’s journalism that matters. A rare thing.

Nick Davies
Multi-award-winning investigative journalist and writer

Peter Hain

Peter Hain, founder of the ANL and friend of Searchlight

British Jews have been persecuted over the centuries; British blacks since the Windrush generation of the 1950s; British Muslims, especially after the Islamist 9/11 and then 7/7 terrorist attacks in New York 2001 and London 2005. But until the last few years there has not been a simultaneous threat against all three British communities of Jewish, Black and Muslim Britons – meaning the need for Searchlight has never been greater.

Peter Hain
Labour peer, former MP and Cabinet Minster

Paul Holborow

Paul Holborow

In the campaign against the National Front, Searchlight provided a rich and utterly reliable basis for much ANL propaganda – particularly with reference to the two leading NF figures, John Tyndall and Martin Webster. The appearance of Tyndall in full nazi uniform, drawn from the archives of Searchlight, was a key part of ANL propaganda, coupled with deeply damaging nazi quotes from Webster.

Paul Holborow
Founding member of the ANL and National Organiser 1977-81

Paul Nowak

Paul Nowak

The essence of trade unionism is solidarity, fairness and equality – for all workers – from all backgrounds. That’s why our fight against the far-right has always been part of our movement’s DNA. Searchlight is an incredibly important resource for trade unions and members to understand the contemporary tactics of far-right activity. Their work and intelligence gathering over the years have been incredibly insightful for the work we do, and how we fight the scourge of fascism.

Paul Nowak
TUC General Secretary

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