Matt Goodwin has argued that UK-born people from ethnic minority backgrounds are not automatically British
Reform UK has hired Matt Goodwin, a former academic who has argued that people born in the UK from ethnic minority backgrounds are not automatically British, as honorary president of its new student wing.
Reform announced Goodwin as honorary president of Students4Reform at its launch on Monday.
In an interview with Michael Gove, editor of The Spectator, the GB News presenter said that being English is “an ethnicity that is deeply rooted in a people that can trace their roots back over generations”.
Goodwin said “it is a different identity from Britishness” and that someone could identify as British, but not be English.
The day after a man carried out a knife attack on people travelling on Doncaster-London train, Goodwin said “mass uncontrolled immigration” was to blame.
Another social media user challenged his comments, pointing out that Anthony Williams, who was charged, and another black man who was arrested and later released, were both born in the UK.
Goodwin responded: “So were all of the 7/7 bombers. It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.”
In a Daily Telegraph article published in June, Goodwin he also claimed that “white British people will be a minority in 40 years”, presenting the increase in the number of “Black British” or “Asian British” people as a problem.
Goodwin maintains that his comments were not racist.
Lois Perry, who briefly served as a former leader of UKIP and is the Director of Heartland UK/Europe was also at the launch.
The Heartland Institute is a US-based free market think tank known for denying scientific evidence on climate change. It has close ties to the Trump administration.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “When Sarah Pochin made grotesque racist remarks, Nigel Farage did nothing. Now he’s given a senior role in Reform to someone with equally unpleasant views on race.
“Nigel Farage must urgently make clear that this type of language is completely unacceptable and has no place in his party.
“If Farage promotes people with these racist views within Reform without taking action, it’s yet more evidence that he’s more interested in creating division and grievance than in patriotism.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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