Laurence Fox libelled two men by calling them 'paedophiles', High Court judge rules

Laurence Fox libelled two men when he referred to them as “paedophiles” on social media, a High Court judge has ruled. The actor-turned-politician was sued by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal over a row on Twitter, now known as X, in October 2020.

Mr Fox called Mr Blake and the former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant, whose real name is Colin Seymour, “paedophiles” in an exchange about a decision by Sainsbury’s to celebrate Black History Month.

The Lewis star – who founded the Reclaim Party – counter-sued the pair and actress Nicola Thorp over tweets accusing him of racism. Mr Fox said at the time he would boycott Sainsbury’s, accusing it of promoting “racial segregation and discrimination”.

During a trial in London in November, Mr Fox was described as an alleged “intelligent racist with an agenda”. In November, he issued an apology in court to the pair, claiming he was attempting to downplay the accusation of being labelled a racist.

In her ruling, Mrs Justice Collins Rice described Laurence Fox’s “labelling” of two men as paedophiles in a social media row “seriously harmful, defamatory and baseless”.

She continued: “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.

“This judgment therefore stands as the beginning of the legal vindication to which (Simon) Blake and (Colin) Seymour are entitled, as successful defamation claimants.”

She added that the issue of damages and any other remedies would be discussed at a later date.