Politics
Gorton and Denton on a knife edge
The vote for the crucial Gorton and Denton by-election will take place on Thursday 26 February. Sources have informed the Canary that internal polling shows the by-election is on a knife edge between the Greens and Reform UK – with Reform just ahead.
The by-election has inevitably become a battleground for whether the country will reject or embrace the racist bigotry of Reform.
With so much at stake, we thought a quick roundup of the horrorshow that is Reform’s Gorton and Denton candidate, academic-turned-talking-head Matt Goodwin. Because, you know, sometimes an individual can say so much heinous shite that it’s hard to remember it all at once.
Gorton and Denton need Matt Goodwin like they need a hole in the head
This is by no means going to be an exhaustive list – we don’t have all day, after all. But for a quick whistle stop tour of Matt Goodwin being a dangerous fucking fascist, it’s probably good to start with his own self-description confirming he’s about as establishment as they come.
The dinner-circuit and TV presenting paychecks were never going to be enough for Goodwin though. He’s also supplemented his wealth with as much as ten grand a month from a Hungarian far right institution that serves as a propaganda machine for fascist Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán.
Then, of course, there’s his “two-tier policing” rants about police somehow not being racist enough. Add to that the time he defended a fellow fascist for inciting the murder of asylum seekers.
In response to Luke Yarwood getting jailed for posting tweets saying “burn them to the ground” and “murder is the only way”, Goodwin tweeted:
Welcome to the UK. Where you go to prison for 18 months for anti-immigration tweets.
This is insane.
Utterly inevitably, he’s also a massive Zionist, even stating that:
Unfortunately, Israel no longer feels that we are a reliable ally, thanks to the Labour government.
Yeah, because Labour’s been such a good friend to the Palestinian people.
White supremacist prick
According to the last census, 29% of the Gorton and Denton population are Muslim, and 44% come from a Black or minority ethnic background. However, on the subject of people like his potential constituents, Goodwin said:
It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.
On top of that, there’s then his blatantly white-supremacist ranting that “the British family is imploding”. His solution? Well, we introduce financial punishments for people who don’t have kids, of course. Goodwin wrote in his Substack about:
Introducing a ‘negative child benefit’ tax for those who don’t have offspring.
Coupled with this, there’s also his disgustingly creepy view that we should teach any kid with a uterus that they’re baby-making machines:
We need to also explain to young girls and women the biological reality of this crisis. Many women in Britain are having children much too late in life, and they would prefer to have children much earlier on.
And as if that weren’t enough, there’s also the small matter that his fellow white supremacists are big fans of Goodwin. The prick even got an election endorsement from race-riot agitator and all-round fucking weapon Tommy Robinson.
And the horse he rode in on
Then, of course, there’s the small matter of the far-right party of racists and chancers that Goodwin has allied himself with. Reform’s interim campaign manager in Tameside, Adam Mitula, has previously engaged in Holocaust minimisation, tweeting that the death toll included:
6 million polish [sic] people including some Jews. They always use Poles to make up the number. And on top of it they claim Poles were killing. Just sick.
Then there’s Lancashire Reform councillor and Goodwin campaigner Lorenzo Moore, who regularly voices his Islamophobia online. Moore once replied to a post that read:
Why do Muslims insist on moving to non-muslim countries and then complain that they find OUR way of life offensive. Why not remain in a MUSLIM country where their way of life is the norm?
In response, More wrote:
they are not here to integrate but to conquer, wake up!!
Other street canvassers for Reform in Gorton and Denton include Britain First groupie Kelly Cooling, along with Alana Vine, an ex-Tory Councillor who once shared a post asking:
how many mosques have secret arsenals? Just waiting for when our troops are elsewhere in the world
Beyond the bunch of bigoted shitheads championing Goodwin, there’s also the dodgy campaign they’re running itself. Reform is currently under investigation for ‘accidentally cropping’ their party’s letterhead from a letter claiming to be from a “concerned neighbour”. It read:
In the Gorton and Denton by-election, I understand why some neighbours who have had enough of Keir Starmer are thinking of voting Green. But I do not believe the Greens have answers to our problems. They have extreme policies like legalising drugs and letting men use women’s changing rooms. What good would that do people like us?
For me, this by-election comes down to a simple choice: more broken promises from Keir Starmer, or real change. That is why I will be voting for Reform UK’s candidate, Matthew Goodwin, who grew up in Manchester. Our area deserves someone who will stand up for local people.
Sure, Reform – just like you ‘forgot’ to include your party’s name on a similar letter in Caerphilly.
Goodwin and Reform are a threat
And don’t even get me started on Reform’s actual (lack of) policies. Some recent gems include the promise to rip up the Equality Act, destroying the foundation anti-discrimination law in the UK. The party also vowed to plunge thousands of children into poverty by reintroducing the two-child benefit cap – all to make beer a bit cheaper.
That’s not to mention the far-right party’s flagship immigrant-bashing policies. Reform have plans to deport 600,000 immigrants over 5 years if it actually won the next election. Big talk, coming from a party that can’t even run a fucking local council.
Goodwin himself is a white supremacist deep in the pocket of open fascists. His campaign team is a rogues’ gallery of assorted extremists, and the party behind him is behind held back from devastating our civil rights only by its own utter incompetence.
Gorton and Denton is one by-election in South Manchester. However, it’s also a golden opportunity to show Reform and the rest of the UK that the fight against the rise of fascism is winnable, and that the people reject the politics of hate.
We have one week left, one more week to push back against the rise of the far right, and one more week to show our neighbours the power of solidarity.
Featured image via the Canary