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Dear John,

Reform UK has selected Matt Goodwin as its candidate for the Gorton & Denton Parliamentary by-election.

You might recognise the name. Goodwin masquerades as an academic, but he’s really an opportunist being parachuted into a constituency he doesn’t care about, all to inject a nastier kind of politics into the mainstream.

Gorton & Denton is proudly diverse. Huge numbers of local families have lived in Greater Manchester for generations. Many are British in every sense. They grew up there, went to school there, work there, pay taxes there, and support their communities there.

Yet Goodwin has spent years pushing the idea that Britain is being ‘replaced’, that multiculturalism has failed, and that being born in Britain doesn’t make you British.

That raises an obvious question, what does he really think about the people of Gorton & Denton?

Does he have a plan to improve anyone’s life, or is he just looking to profit from divisive lies?

Because the moment a candidate starts dividing the public into real Britons and not-quite-Britons, you’re no longer in the realm of normal politics. You’re in the far-right’s world of division and distraction.

Goodwin built his profile writing about the far-right. When he realised there was money and power to be had in the grift, he decided to join the ranks.

And it’s not just harmless talk. Goodwin has repeatedly praised Viktor Orbán’s model in Hungary. The strongman playbook of capturing institutions, weakening checks and balances, and using culture wars to keep people angry while power is consolidated. That’s the kind of politics Reform UK is importing, and it should deeply worry anyone who cares about democracy.

You can see the same pattern across the world. Self-styled commentators who present themselves as sober analysts or entertainers, while normalising ideas that would once have been beyond the pale.

In the United States, Trump turned politics into a culture war and built an enforcement-first agenda around fear and scapegoating, with ICE as the symbol of a state that kicks down doors first and asks questions later.

Reform UK’s direction of travel looks similar. A politics built on labelling whole communities as inherently suspect, and then daring anyone to object.

Goodwin’s selection is a signal. Reform UK doesn’t really want a local champion for Gorton & Denton, they just want to prop up a culture warrior to weaponise grievances and wage their national ideological battles. Once again, they show how little they care about people’s day-to-day concerns, and how eager they are to keep the outrage machine churning.

Our job is to halt this sort of politics in its tracks. We’re holding Nigel Farage and his party to account, debunking their divisive narratives wherever they appear, and striving to put these culture wars aside so we can fix our democracy instead.

We have to succeed, otherwise we’ll stay stuck in this perpetual cycle of rage and disillusionment where nothing really gets done, and we all pay the price.

Thank you for your continued support,

Conor McKenzie
Digital Engagement Manager, Open Britain

P.S. This by-election will be a test-run for what Reform wants to do nationally. If we let Trump-style politics take root here, it won’t stop in Gorton & Denton. If you can donate to support our work, please do: open-britain.co.uk/donate ([link removed])
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