Keir Starmer has accused Irish rappers Kneecap of making a ‘half-hearted’ apology for calling on fans to kill their local MP.
The Belfast trio last night offered ‘heartfelt apologies’ to the families of two murdered politicians, Sir David Amess and Jo Cox, as anger over jibes aired at one of their concerts grew.
But the group said they they were victims of a ‘smear campaign’ and the video had been ‘deliberately taken out of all context’.
They claimed ‘establishment figures, desperate to silence us, have combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews’.
Festivals including Glastonbury which have booked the republican-aligned hip-hop group for performances this summer are being urged to drop them from their line-ups.
Footage of a November 2023 concert shows a member of the band telling their fans ‘the only good Tory is a dead Tory’, triggering condemnation from all sides of politics.
It came just two years after the murder of Conservative MP Sir David in his Essex constituency and one of his close friends told the Commons today that the band was guilty of ‘incitement to murder’.
Asked about the apology from the Irish rap trio, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘I think you have seen what they have said, I think it is half-hearted.
The Belfast trio are facing mounting criticism over a concern performance in which one of them said ‘the only good Tory is a dead Tory’.
Last night, in a statement shared to their Instagram page, Kneecap said: ‘To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt’
Katie Amess, whose Conservative MP father Sir David Amess was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 2021, said the comments had upset her family
‘We completely reject in the strongest possible terms the comments that they’ve made, particularly in relation to MPs and intimidation as well as obviously the situation in the Middle East.’
Labour MP David Taylor wrote to Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis yesterday urging him to take the rappers off the bill for the festival in June.
They are due to perform on the Saturday of the festival alongside acts including Charli XCX, Neil Young and Raye, and also did a set last year.
In his letter, Mr Taylor – the Hemel Hempstead MP – wrote that if reports of the remarks were true ‘the group’s actions and statements go beyond the realm of legitimate political expression and into the dangerous territory of inciting violence and promoting extremism’.
Tory shadow minister Mark Francois later raised a point of order in the House of Commons to say it would be ‘unconscionable’ if Kneecap were to perform at Glastonbury.
He urged Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to also write to festival bosses to say ‘that this House does not think it is appropriate that Kneecap should be allowed to appear at least until the investigation is completed’.
MPs will discuss the matter again today.
Sir David’s daughter Katie had demanded an apology for herself and her upset family.
Labour MP David Taylor wrote to Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis, urging him to take the rappers off the bill for the festival in June.
They are due to perform on the Saturday alongside acts including Charli XCX, Neil Young and Raye.
She told BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster programme that she was ‘absolutely gobsmacked at the stupidity of somebody or a group of people being in the public eye and saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric’.
Ms Amess added: ‘It is just beyond belief that human beings would speak like that in this day and age and it is extremely dangerous. To say to kill anybody, what on earth are they thinking?’
She also warned there were ‘absolute nutters’ who could try to act upon the comments after her father was murdered by ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali.
Yvette Cooper told Times Radio that ‘the things that they’ve been reported to be saying’ are ‘a total disgrace’, adding: ‘It’s dangerous to make these sorts of comments whether it is terrorist organisations or whether it is about the safety of MPs, when we have seen two MPs killed in recent years’.
Ms Cooper also suggested that people involved in organising events should take ‘some responsibility’ with regards to the issue.
Asked if the band should still be at Glastonbury, she added: ‘That’s a matter for the organisers’.
She went on: ‘What they’re reported to have said is a total disgrace.
‘It’s dangerous and irresponsible to say these sorts of things, and I hope that everybody involved – not just the band – but also those involved surrounding them and those involved in events, also take some responsibility on this and looks very seriously at the consequences of these kinds of remarks, not just what’s been said.’
