‘Matt Goodwin is an embarrassment to Reform’

What’s the story?

It’s been a tough year for Matt Goodwin – and we’re only three months in.

Not only did he lose the Gorton & Denton by-election, where he stood for Reform UK, he’s also struggling to shut down claims his new book is riddled with mistakes after being written with research done on ChatGPT.

He was publicly challenged about the errors in his book, Suicide of a Nation: Immigration, Islam, Identity, on GB News, where he also works as a presenter, by journalist Andy Twelves, who originally highlighted Goodwin's mistakes on social media.

Twelves identified numerous quotes in Goodwin’s book, attributed to academics and names from history, which appeared to be entirely fictional.

Additionally, he highlighted claims about teachers struggling in classrooms with multi-lingual students, easily-checked factual errors, and incorrect migration numbers, among many others errors throughout the book.

"At the end of this exchange, I feel like we're none the wiser as to where he got some of those quotes from," says Emily Maitlis.

"He hasn't managed to respond to Andy Twelves in a way that clarifies where the people he quoted in his book got their words from."

It was such a spectacular fail for Goodwin, that he was mocked by colleagues hosting other shows on the channel.

Why this affects Goodwin's reputation

Matt Goodwin has reinvented himself numerous times during his career, but it is his early days as a trusted academic that Emily is now calling into question, having worked with him in earlier roles in her own career.

"The wider question is the whole career trajectory of Matt Goodwin, which we are starting to reconsider now," she says.

"A decade ago, we would invite him onto the BBC, onto Newsnight, because he was a respected academic. He was somebody who we trusted with poll numbers."

More recently, Goodwin has been a regular guest on the BBC's Question Time.

Emily says it doesn’t matter if an academic is studying the far-left or the far-right – they have one job, and that is to get the facts right.

"We never questioned at the time the things that are now becoming much more obvious; he makes up numbers, he makes up facts," she says.

"He clearly has no love for fact or truth."

Why this is a blow for Reform UK

Goodwin may have lost the Gorton & Denton by-election, but having a trusted academic onside was a big deal for a party which largely deals in vibes and division.

"He obviously wanted a political career, and he was disappointed not to win the seat," says Jon Sopel.

"I think that what Reform were hoping was that he would be some intellectual underpinning for some of what they're saying.

He was nicknamed Matt Badloss after he lost the seat to Green candidate, and now MP, Hannah Spencer.

"He would have been a brain behind their politics and politicians, and he was considered an attractive addition," Jon adds.

"Now, he's an embarrassment to Reform."

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