LAST UPDATE | 22 Jun

FORMER TAOISEACH LEO Varadkar has said Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is not right to criticise Kneecap’s upcoming Glastonbury gig next week.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper yesterday, Starmer said he does not believe the Belfast rap group should be allowed to perform at the major music festival this year and said it was ‘not appropriate’.

Band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, whose stage name is Mo Chara, appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, charged with allegedly displaying a flag of the proscribed terrorist group Hezbollah while saying “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at a concert in November.

Ó hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail to appear before a judge again in August. His defence team signalled that they will be contesting the charges, and the band has said the accusations are politically-motivated.

Starmer was asked if he thought the trio should perform at Glastonbury.

The Labour leader said: “No, I don’t, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this. This is about the threats that shouldn’t be made, I won’t say too much because there’s a court case on, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

Commenting under a video clip of Starmer’s interview, posted on Kneecap’s Instagram page, former Fine Gael leader Varadkar said it is not the role of politicians to criticise those in the arts.

“[I] no longer hold office nor any mandate, so my views don’t count for so much anymore. I get that. But, I really thought this [video] was some sort of gag,” the ex-Dublin West TD said.

“It’s the role of artists to be avant guarde, inappropriate, challenging, disruptive – from James Joyce to Sex Pistols and Playboy. Politicians really should not try to censor this.

“If an offence was committed, let the courts decided. In the meantime, the rule of law says the accused is innocent until proven guilty,” he added.

Varadkar added a shrugging emoji to his comment, which was liked by the Kneecap Instagram account.

It comes after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called on the BBC not to broadcast the set.

Badenoch, who as the UK’s culture minister in the last British government stripped the band of its public funding before a court overturned the decision, yesterday called on the BBC to not broadcast the band’s set.

A BBC spokesperson said decisions about the programmes it will broadcast will be made in the lead-up to the festival. They said the broadcaster does not ban artists, but ensures that programming meets its independent editorial guidelines and standards.

With reporting by Press Association.