Matt Goodwin campaign latest: a police snub and a Tommy Robinson endorsement

Academic turned hard-right rentagob Matt Goodwin’s attempts to win the Gorton and Denton by-election continue apace – with the police already turning down his attempt to get them to probe Labour for hurty words.

Just yesterday Rats in a Sack reported how the GB News rabble-rouser had called in the cops over allegations Labour had published “misleading” claims about him online. The party had posted a video in which Goodwin tells a Reform meeting: “I was lucky enough or unfortunate enough to be in Manchester a few days ago and the energy in this room is 10 times what it was in Manchester so congratulations.”

Goodwin said his comments were not directed at Manchester but at the “dying” Tory Party conference which had taken place in the city shortly before. He claimed its publication was a breach of the Representation of the People’s Act 1983, which bans any “false statement of fact” against a candidate.

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Greater Manchester Police have now very quickly concluded their investigation and said that “after assessment [we have] informed the complainant there is no offence identified”. Reform had said they would launch a private prosecution if police failed to take action, although they have yet to confirm they will pursue what will likely be a fruitless operation.

Still, it’s not stopped Goodwin from pounding the doorsteps, posting a series of pictures of him online being warmly welcomed by voters online. Curiously though, in a constituency where 44% identify as coming from a minority ethnic background and 52% (presumably, like the rest of the world) are female, Goodwin only managed to find white men when he knocked on doors! What a strange coincidence.

And what’s more, Goodwin has managed to bag himself a celebrity endorsement. The Reform man has been endorsed by, er, Tommy Robinson, the violent football hooligan and serial criminal, who took to X to throw his weight behind the former University of Kent man’s campaign.

Reacting to a post from the group Hope Not Hate, which researches and campaigns against far right politics, Robinson wrote: “Vote for Matt.” What a coup – and what a start to the campaign!