Emails written by Home Office officials privately
acknowledged the ban on Mr Savage would provide 'balance' to a list
dominated by Muslims - and linked the decision to Gordon Brown and
Foreign Secretary David Miliband. …

Mr Savage, who had not even applied for entry to Britain,
claimed his name had been 'plucked out of a hat' because he was
'controversial and white'. He has since served a £100,000 libel writ on
Ms Smith, who announced his ban on television.

Now, correspondence released under Freedom of Information
legislation suggests the banning of Mr Savage, whose real name is
Michael Weiner, was based on a party political calculation made at the
high...

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Emails written by Home Office officials privately
acknowledged the ban on Mr Savage would provide 'balance' to a list
dominated by Muslims - and linked the decision to Gordon Brown and
Foreign Secretary David Miliband. …

Mr Savage, who had not even applied for entry to Britain,
claimed his name had been 'plucked out of a hat' because he was
'controversial and white'. He has since served a £100,000 libel writ on
Ms Smith, who announced his ban on television.

Now, correspondence released under Freedom of Information
legislation suggests the banning of Mr Savage, whose real name is
Michael Weiner, was based on a party political calculation made at the
highest level of Government. …

The documents include a draft recommendation, marked
'Restricted', saying: 'We will want to ensure that the names disclosed
reflect the broad range of cases and are not all Islamic extremists.'

A further email confirmed the decision was approved at the
highest level of Government, saying: 'HO [Home Office] intend to
include Weiner in their quarterly stats… Both the FS [Foreign
Secretary] and PM [Prime Minister] are firmly behind listing and naming
such people.'

One civil servant, again unnamed, counselled caution,
saying: 'I think we could be accused of duplicity in naming him' -
without explaining why - and even added that 'the fact that he is
homophobic does help'.