By MATTHEW HICKLEY

Last updated at 08:15 28 February 2008

The Home Secretary came under fire last night for allowing a radical Lebanese propagandist with links to the extremist group Hezbollah to enter Britain for a national speaking tour.

The Conservatives urged Jacqui Smith to ban Ibrahim Moussawi from the UK, warning that he was "likely to foment extremism or promote violence".

Mr Moussawi edits Hezbollah's newspaper and is former political editor of the Iranian-backed group's television station, which is banned in many countries including France, Spain and the U.S. where its output is seen as anti-Semitic.

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The radical propagandist: Ibrahim Moussawi, who edits Hezbollah's newspaper, will tour Britain

He was recently barred from entering Ireland, where he was due to speak at anti-war meetings.

He is scheduled to appear at an event in London tonight organised by the Stop the War Coalition, with more events planned around the country over the coming week.

Shadow Security Minister Baroness Neville-Jones attacked the Government's record of allowing radical extremists into the UK, after ministers previously ignored calls to deny Mr Moussawi entry to the UK.

She said: "The Government has the power to deny entry to people whose presence is not conducive to the public good.

"Yet in the past they have let in extremists to preach hate.

"Jacqui Smith failed to stop Ibrahim Moussawi from coming last December, despite my specific request that she do so.

"Regardless of what Moussawi actually says when he is here, it is vital that the Government always makes the security of the UK its top priority.

"That means stopping those who are likely to foment extremism or promote violence from coming here to speak. Ibrahim Moussawi should not be allowed to return to the UK."

The Stop the War Coalition website describes Mr Moussawi as "Editor of the journal Al-Intiqad in Lebanon, linked to Hezbollah."

Last night, the Home Office would not comment on Mr Moussawi's case, although sources confirmed that his visa had been approved for the trip.

Al-Manar television - the Arabic word for "beacon" - where he worked until recently as foreign and political editor, is Hezbollah's main mouthpiece in the Middle East and around the world, broadcasting from Beirut.

It describes itself as the "station of resistance" and campaigns on behalf of Hezbollah and against the state of Israel, and American and British policy in the Middle East.

It routinely describes fighters who are killed and suicide bombers as "martyrs", and condemns Israeli forces as criminals.

The station has been widely condemned for anti-Semitism after it broadcast a 30-part series based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged document setting out a supposed secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.

Bosses at the station deny anti-Semitism, claiming they are merely anti-Israeli.

Last month, David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of failing to tackle the dangers from extremist preachers radicalising audiences in the UK.

The Home Office said last night that the Home Secretary uses powers to exclude foreign nationals whose presence is "not conducive to the public good" when it is justified and "based on all the available evidence".

A spokesman said: "Since July 2005, successive Home Secretaries have made robust use of this power to exclude 76 individuals from the UK.

"In the same period, a further 136 individuals have been excluded on grounds of national security."