What will Viktor Orbán’s landslide defeat mean for poor Matt Goodwin?

Viktor Orbán’s landslide defeat in Hungary has led to multiple questions about the end of illiberal democracy, the country’s return to the European mainstream and waning US influence on the continent. But few are asking the bigger question: what does it mean for Matt Goodwin’s bank balance?

The former academic turned Reform rabble-rouser has been a vocal cheerleader for the autocrat’s rule in Hungary, posting on X in 2024: “I just spent 4 days in Hungary, a conservative country criticised by elites across the West. I saw no crime. No homeless people. No riots. No unrest. No drugs. No mass immigration. No broken borders. No self-loathing. No chaos. And now I’ve just landed back in the UK.”

And little wonder Goodwin was so taken with Orbán’s rule: earlier this year it was reported by the Good Law Project, following the leak of documents obtained by Hungarian investigative journalists Direkt36, that he may have received a salary of up to €10,000 a month from MCC, an Orbán-aligned pressure group based in the country.

Goodwin appears to have served as a visiting fellow since at least last year, when he returned to Budapest in August to speak at an event. According to the documents obtained by Direkt 36, visiting fellows are paid between €5,000 and €10,000 per month “plus housing, office space, health insurance and, where appropriate, family support”. The fellowship ranges from two weeks to a year, but Direkt 36 found that it was common for fellows to continue on a retainer.

MCC Brussels is a think tank whose director is Frank Furedi, a founder of the Revolutionary Communist Party and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, Goodwin’s former employer. It is said to be bankrolled by the Hungarian state – or at least was, until last night’s election result.

During his fateful bid to win the Gorton and Denton by-election last month, Reform denied that MCC paid Goodwin €10,000 a month and said: “These accusations are false and are part of a desperate attempt to derail a democratic by-election.”

Suggested Reading

And the winner of Reform’s big energy bill competition is… a Reform member

Rats in a Sack

Still, he has at least one more trip to Budapest. On the day after Orbán’s humiliation, Goodwin was due to speak at an MCC event in Budapest titled ‘What’s Next for Europe? A Series with Matthew Goodwin – How Mass Migration is Reshaping the UK and Implications for Europe’. Presumably it was lined up when the think tank thought it might double as a celebration of Orbán’s reelection!

Meanwhile, one Daily Telegraph writer is left looking very silly this morning. Just last Thursday, it published an opinion piece by Tibor Fischer, a novelist, headlined “Orbán will win again and the Leftist chatterati just doesn’t get why”.

“Contrary to received opinion, the Hungarian prime minister remains popular among ordinary voters,” wrote Fischer, mocking how “most of the cheerleaders for Tisza are unaware that, currently, they don’t have a single seat in the Hungarian parliament. Not one.

“The poll putting Tisza well ahead, that has excited so many Western observers, was conducted by Median.

“Median is the brainchild of Endre Hann, who was a member of a now-defunct Left-wing party, the SZDSZ, that included former Maoists and Trots, and who entered into a governing coalition with the survivors of the Communist party.”

Now another poll has taken place: one of actual Hungarian voters, 79.5% of whom turned out to vote and turfed Orbán out after 16 years in the process. Fischer, presumably, just doesn’t get why.