FAR-RIGHT leader Viktor Orban is not welcome in Britain, anti-racist protesters cried today outside Downing Street, where the nationalist strongman met the PM. 

Hungary’s authoritarian Prime Minister met Boris Johnson on Friday — the second EU leader to come to Britain since Brexit. 

Protesters gathered outside No 10 in the morning, with speakers accusing Mr Orban of stirring up hatred against Roma people, migrants and refugees, and fuelling anti-semitism.

The far-right leader has described migrants as “poison” and claimed that Hungary is the “last bastion against the Islamification of Europe.”

During his 10-year reign, the Hungarian leader has centralised power around himself and his government and been accused of running anti-semitic election campaigns, most notably in targeting Jewish billionaire George Soros. 

Referring to Mr Soros in the run-up to Hungary’s parliamentary election in 2018, Mr Orban said: “We are fighting an enemy that is different from us ... does not believe in working but speculates with money; does not have its own homeland but feels it owns the whole world.”

In a statement condemning Mr Orban’s visit this week, the Jewish Socialist Group (JSG) said his comments were “almost exactly the same terms in which the Nazis talked about Jews.”

JSG said although the meeting was shocking it wasn’t surprising given the PM’s previous support for the Hungarian leader, describing the pair as “partners in crime.”

“This is not a new relationship. Johnson very warmly welcomed Orban’s re-election in 2018 and that was the election where Orban really played up the anti-semitism and hate against George Soros,” JSG’s David Rosenberg told the Morning Star.  

“If the British government was at all serious about any efforts to defeat anti-semitism or any other racism then there’s no reason why they should be inviting Orban. They know what he’s about.” 

The visit was also criticised by Labour and left-wing MPs. 

Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro Addy slammed Mr Orban’s trip to Britain as an “insult” to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities as well as Jews and Muslims. 

“Britain should not be rolling out the red carpet for authoritarian leaders who erode democratic norms and make racism a pillar of their policies,” she said.

Labour MP Zarah Sultana had urged the PM earlier this week to cancel the visit as Mr Orban should “not be welcome here.”

In a letter to Mr Johnson on Thursday, the MP said she was appalled that at a time of rising anti-semitism and Islamophobia, the government “seems happy to smile for the cameras with a man like this.”

However, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng defended the meeting, saying it was “absolutely right” for Mr Johnson to “be building bilateral relations” after Brexit.

The protest outside Downing Street, organised by Stand up to Racism, heard from representatives of the Jewish, Muslim and GTR  communities.

Addressing the crowd, GTR activist Virgil Bitu said: “Orban has done many many things against Roma people in Hungary. We ask him now to get the hell out of here and take Boris with you.”

Stand up to Racism co-convenor Weyman Bennett said: “I’m proud to say we are standing against Victor Orban and the next time anybody tells us that they have a strategy for defeating fascism and racism, we’d like to start off by saying can you oppose dictators –people removing the basic human rights for people to organise.”

Hungarian activist Olivia Virag said Mr Orban had become a dictator and can do “everything and anything he wants.”

“This is terrible, we have to stop this,” she urged. 

In the last year the far-right leader has exploited the Covid crisis to hand himself authoritarian powers, passing laws to rule by decree without any time limit. 

Anti-racism campaigners also urged the PM to press Mr Orban on his government’s history of human rights abuses. 

Downing Street said that while Mr Johnson would “not shy away” from raising human rights issues with Mr Orban, the meeting was to go ahead as co-operation with Hungary is “vital to the UK’s prosperity and security.”