Matt Goodwin, the Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Controversy.

The campaign took a sharper turn after Tommy Robinson, the far-right activist and founder of the English Defence League, publicly endorsed Matt Goodwin, Reform UK’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election. The endorsement, made openly on social media, quickly became a focal point of the race, prompting criticism from Labour and others who argue it underscores troubling ideological overlaps. Reform UK has sought to distance itself from Robinson, insisting he has no role within the party, but the intervention has nonetheless injected the contest with renewed controversy.

Here’s the context and key details:

---

---

📌 What’s happened

• Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) posted on X urging people to “vote for Matt” — explicitly backing Goodwin’s campaign in the by-election scheduled for 26 February 2026.

• Robinson is widely known as a far-right figure and founder of the English Defence League, a group associated with anti-Islam activism.

• This endorsement has been picked up and amplified by the Labour Party and other critics to warn voters about the direction of Goodwin’s campaign, with Labour calling it “toxic” and warning it represents “extreme politics.”

---

---

---

🧨 Reform UK’s response

• Reform UK has publicly rejected Robinson’s endorsement, saying that Robinson “isn’t welcome in the party.” 

• Senior figures in Reform and even Nigel Farage have downplayed or distanced themselves from Robinson, with Farage indicating the endorsement “doesn’t really matter.”

🗳️ Why this matters

• The endorsement has become a campaign flashpoint in this tightly contested by-election, used by Labour and the Greens to argue that Reform’s candidate is aligned with divisive far-right politics — an argument that Reform disputes but hasn’t fully disavowed publicly.

• It feeds into broader debates in the campaign over immigration, national identity and the future direction of UK politics.

Matt Goodwin is a former academic turned political commentator and Reform UK by-election candidate. Born in 1981 and raised in Hertfordshire, he often describes a working-class background, citing family links to Greater Manchester and early jobs in the Gorton and Denton area.

He studied politics at the University of Salford and completed a PhD at the University of Bath, later becoming a professor of politics at the University of Kent.

Goodwin built his reputation researching right-wing populism, Brexit and political realignment, co-authoring influential books on the rise of nationalist movements. In recent years, he has moved from academic analysis to overt political advocacy, becoming a prominent media commentator, GB News presenter and vocal critic of liberal elites, immigration policy and cultural change.