Labour warns Reform by-election candidate ‘represents extreme politics’ as he’s endorsed by Tommy Robinson
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson has backed Reform UK’s byelection candidate after Labor warned he represented “extreme” politics.
Matt Goodwin – UK News presenter and former university academic – was announced earlier this week as Reform UK’s candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election.
On Thursday, Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, backed Mr Goodwin despite Reform UK reiterating that Yaxley-Lennon is “not welcome in the party”.
Responding to a post about X by Nick Lowles, chief executive of anti-racism group Hope not Hate, who vowed to do “anything” to stop Mr Goodwin’s election, Yaxley-Lennon wrote: “Vote for Matt.”
Labor later shared this support, writing: “Tommy Robinson backed Reform’s candidate in Gorton and Denton. Only a vote for Labor could stop him.”
But a spokesman for Reform UK rejected this confirmation, saying: “We have been consistently clear about this issue. It is not welcome in the party.”
Nigel Farage has previously distanced himself from Tommy Robinson, saying the far-right activist was “not what we need”.
Mr Goodwin’s candidacy was met with concern by the political opposition and anti-racism groups, including Hope Not Hate, which branded him an “opportunist extremist”.
In a fundraising email seen by NationalLabor said Mr Goodwin’s positions did not represent “mainstream politics” and that they were “extreme”.
He sparked criticism last year when he was accused of suggesting that people from minority ethnic backgrounds were not necessarily British, even if they were born in the UK.
Mr Goodwin, who presents three times a week on GB News, blamed “mass uncontrolled immigration” in a post on X/Twitter following a mass stabbing on a train in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
After it was revealed the suspect was born in the UK, Goodwin wrote: “So were all the 7/7 bombers. It takes more than a piece of paper to make someone ‘British’.”
The comments were criticized by the Liberal Democrats as “racist rhetoric” and a “disgrace”.
In 2017, the politics professor took pages out of his book. Brexit: Why did Britain vote to leave the European Union?He is live on Sky News after incorrectly predicting that Labor would not get as much as 38 per cent of the vote under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The party won 40 percent of the votes in the general elections held that year.
By-elections in Gorton and Denton are expected to be held on February 26 after former MP Andrew Gwynne resigned for health reasons.
