Geert Wilders should not get film star treatment

3.36.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 16th Oct 2009

Commenting on Geert Wilders' arrival in London and press conference, Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and MEP for London Sarah Ludford said:

"As I predicted at the time, the unwise and panicky government decision to bar him from entering the UK in February has only made him a martyr and whipped up a media frenzy."

"Geert Wilders is just an obsessive and not very clever politician with unpleasant views, not a celebrity. If he stirs up hatred against Muslims he should be prosecuted. In any case he should not get film star treatment."

"Debate about the impact of religion - but not just Islam - on public life is certainly needed, as well as how different cultures and faiths co-exist under the same set of laws and human rights observance. But the narrow-minded Wilders has nothing of value to say on those topics."

ENDS