A GB News presenter who once ate a page of his own book on live TV after making an incorrect election prediction has been unveiled as Reform UK’s candidate for the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election.
Matt Goodwin was announced as the party’s candidate one day after Nigel Farage claimed the party’s chances are “considerably better” following Labour’s decision to block Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing for the northwest seat.
Speaking at a party press conference in the constituency on Tuesday, Mr Goodwin said: “This by-election is a referendum on Keir Starmer.”
The former university academic and honorary president of the Students4Reform organisation added: “It’s a chance for the hardworking, law-abiding, tax-paying people from this seat to have their say on Keir Starmer and to make political history.”
The right-wing activist sparked criticism last year when he was accused of suggesting people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British, even if they were born in the UK.
Following a mass stabbing on a train in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Mr Goodwin, who appears as a presenter on GB News three times a week, blamed “mass uncontrolled immigration” in a post on X/Twitter.
After it came to light the the suspect was born in the UK, Goodwin wrote: “So were all of the 7/7 bombers. It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.”
The comments were criticised by the Liberal Democrats as “racist rhetoric” and a “disgrace”.
In 2017, the politics professor ate pages from his book, Brexit: Why Britain voted to leave the European Union, live on Sky News after he wrongly predicted Labour would not poll as high as 38 per cent under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The party won 40 per cent of the vote.
In a video from Reform UK’s party conference from 2023, shared by the Labour Party after his candidacy was announced, Mr Goodwin appeared to be less than enthusiastic about Manchester.
Referring to the Conservative Party conference, Mr Goodwin said: “I was lucky enough – or unfortunate enough – to be a Manchester a few days ago and the energy in this room is 10 times what it was in Manchester, so congratulations.”
The Gorton and Denton by-election is expected to take place on 26 February, after former MP Andrew Gwynne stood down for health reasons last week.
The contest has sparked furious Labour infighting after the party’s governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), voted on Sunday to Mr Burnham from standing in the seat.
The NEC officially cited concerns over the costs to the party of a mayoral election, but the block comes amid widespread speculation Mr Burnham could pose a significant leadership threat to Sir Keir Starmer.
A group of 50 Labour MPs have written to Sir Keir urging the NEC to reconsider the decision, which they described as a “real gift” to Reform UK.
Labour’s political rivals from the left, the Green Party, is also eyeing up its chances in the race.
But with tensions mounting internally in Labour, the signatories of the letter said there was “no legitimate reason” to block Mr Burnham, demanding Labour’s NEC “re-evaluate” the decision.
Mr Farage said his party’s chances for winning the by-election were “considerably better” than before Mr Burnham was blocked from standing.
But Reform UK’s early campaigning in the area has already been criticised by political rivals, after chief whip Lee Anderson appeared to be posting pictures in the “wrong constituency”.
In pictures posted on Facebook on Saturday, Mr Anderson joined activists near a building believed to be the Stanley House Function Rooms, a Greater Manchester venue outside the boundaries of Gorton and Denton.
Labour chair Anna Turley said the party was “proving from day one they won’t stand up for local residents in Gorton and Denton – they can’t even find the constituency on a map”.
At Tuesday afternoon’s press conference, Mr Goodwin declined to say whether he wanted the string of prominent former Conservative MPs who have recently defected to Reform to campaign on his behalf in Greater Manchester.
Asked whether he would be happy for figures such as ex-chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and former home secretary Suella Braverman to come up and help him in the race, he said: “I don’t think people at the top of Reform view it this way – I’ve never viewed it as a sort of Tory party 2.0.
“I’ve got lots of friends in the party who are former Labour people, former Lib Dem people, none of the above people.”