Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox has lost a High Court libel battle with two people after a social media spat in which he referred to them as “paedophiles.”
Mr. Fox, 45, was sued by Simon Blake, a former trustee of the charity Stonewall and drag artist Crystal—real name Colin Seymour—over a row on Twitter, since renamed X, in October 2020.
Mr. Fox called Mr. Blake and Mr. Seymour “paedophiles” after they commented on a decision by Sainsbury’s to mark Black History Month.
He counter-sued them, and broadcaster Nicola Thorp, for libel after they called him a “racist” in response.
Laurence Fox Calls Ruling a ‘Nothing Burger’
Afterwards, on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mr. Fox described her ruling as a “nothing burger.”She said, “Mr. Fox’s labelling of Mr. Blake and Mr. Seymour as paedophiles was, on the evidence, probabilities and facts of this case, seriously harmful, defamatory and baseless.”
She went on: “The law affords few defences to defamation of this sort. Mr. Fox did not attempt to show these allegations were true, and he was not able to bring himself on the facts within the terms of any other defence recognised in law.”
Mrs. Justice Collins Rice did rule on whether it was “substantially true” that he was a “racist.”
She said: “I am very much aware that Mr. Fox would have liked to leave court with a clear determination that he ‘is not a racist,’ Ms. Thorp with a determination that it is substantially true that he is, and Mr. Blake and Mr. Seymour with an endorsement that at least they genuinely thought so and an honest person could have thought so too.”
“But the entire case is, in that sense at least, all about contested views of what does and does not amount to being ‘a racist.’”
The judge said: “Mr. Fox’s principal project is to put his views and challenges about racism to the UK electorate in the political arena.
“That, rather than a court of law, is in any event likely to be the determinative last word in relation to his reputation on such matters, given the path down which he has set.
Fox Fights On for Definition of ‘Racist’
Mr. Fox said afterwards: “What is a racist? Every single person in this country knows what a racist is, except the people that dominate every single national institution that we have.”He added: “Racism as a term is used just as a point of disagreement, and a point of ‘I don’t like you, therefore you’re a racist.’
“This is a great, wonderful country and I admire and I respect this country, and I fight for it and I fight for my children and I fight for everybody else out there who doesn’t have my platform who gets called these vicious slurs, and I just want a definition of the word,” added Mr. Fox.
Mr. Fox told the court in November he was “horrified” when he was called a racist and he said it was a “career-ending word and a reputation-destroying allegation,” which cost him several well-paying acting jobs.
He said roles in a Batman film and the TV show “Succession” vanished and he faced a “significant decline” in the number and quality of roles he was offered after the accusation was made against him.
