Savage had never visited the UK and was never going to visit here, so its ironic that he plays up his banning.
I hear savage did have a visit planned. But either way he is naturally unhappy to be banned ( perhaps especially if he wasn’t even going to UK). And he carps about the ban to get it lifted. And it obviously is part of the promotion he does for his radio/ wireless program/me which thrives on topics like governmental (mis-) conduct and mistakes. ( We do know that some good people have cancelled or postponed visiting UK due to this. )