Might Reform have a new 'favourite political prisoner'?

“Welcome to the UK, where you go to prison for 18 months for anti-immigration tweets,” posted academic turned Reform campaigner Matthew Goodwin on X on December 17.

Goodwin was sympathising with the plight of Luke Yarwood, jailed this week for his posts on the platform. And what were the “ami-immigration tweets” Goodwin referred to? Had Yarwood called for stricter rules on immigration numbers? Suggested tightening up legislation on the level of dependents that students could bring into the country?

Er… not quite. The 36-year-old had posted: “I think it’s time for the British to gang together, hit the streets and start the slaughter. Violence and murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head off to MPs’ houses and Parliament, we need to take over by FORCE.”

In another, separate post, he said: “Head for the hotels housing them and burn them to the ground.”

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As the judge in the case who sentenced him to 18 months for stirring up racial hatred, Jonathan Fuller, said: “This is not a court of politics but law. You are entitled to express your views, but freedom of speech is not an absolute right, it’s a qualified one.

“There could be few clearer examples of words specifically designed to stir up racial hatred and incite violence.”

Still, for Goodwin – and despite the fact that Yarwood specifically referred to “MPs’ houses” when two Members of Parliament have been murdered by extremists, one a right-wing radical, in recent memory – it’s no more than a couple of “anti-immigration tweets”.

It’s not all bad for Yarwood, though. Keep his head down in the Big House and he could be out in nine months – right on time for next year’s Reform conference, where he will no doubt receive a hero’s welcome.

After all, Lucy Connolly, who reacted to the horrific murders of three young children in Southport by writing “set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them” on social media, and ultimately pleaded guilty to distributing material with the intention of stirring up racial hatred, was brought on to the stage of their conference in Birmingham this year and introduced to loud cheers as “Britain’s favourite political prisoner”.