Reform candidate made fats jab jibe at Robert Jenrick and warned towards ‘Tory tribute act’
Matt Goodwin, who is running in Gorton and Denton, has made repeated attacks on his new colleagues, and also warned Nigel Farage that Reform risks becoming a ‘Tory tribute act’
Robert Jenrick was attacked for his lack of ‘charisma’ by his new colleague(Image: Andrew Stenning/Daily Mirror/Daily Express)
A Reform by-election candidate made jibes at Robert Jenrick’s use of weight loss drugs – and warned the party risks becoming a “Tory tribute act”.
Matt Goodwin, who is standing for Reform in Gorton and Denton, mocked Mr Jenrick for using Ozempic, saying: “You can take an injection for weight loss but you can’t take an injection for personality”. Mr Jenrick, a former top Tory who defected to Reform last month, has previously spoken of how he had used the medication to slim down.
Last May, Mr Goodwin said: “The thing with Jenrick though is, like somebody once said, you can take an injection for weight loss but you can’t take an injection for personality, you know and I think there’s an underlying issue there in that. I think there are two things with Jenrick, one is there is no charisma, the second is he’s not as strong as he thinks he is.”
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Only four months ago, Mr Goodwin claimed that taking in too many Tories could destroy the party. Since then, Reform has welcomed 11 more ex-Tory MPs into its ranks, including Mr Jenrick and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Writing for ConservativeWoman in September, he said: “If the party takes too many ex-Tories it risks quickly looking like a Tory tribute act, inviting the same people who very nearly destroyed our country to have another go at destroying it all over again.
“Every former Tory MP Reform take erodes the party’s appeal in Labour’s Red Wall, Wales, northern England, and Scotland, and dilutes its anti-establishment appeal. You cannot be an anti-establishment party if you accept lots of people from the establishment.”
In November, Mr Goodwin branded the Tories and Mr Jenrick a “total joke”. He said: “If you invited an architect into your house and that architect destroyed your house, you would not invite that architect back.”
Labour MP Andrew Western said: “Matthew Goodwin claimed to be fed up with Farage stuffing his party full of failed Tories, but then decided to join them. You couldn’t make it up.”
“He’s said himself that these are the same Tories who failed Britain before and they’d do the same all over again through Reform. And Goodwin would help them do it – using Gorton and Denton as a blueprint for the chaos they’d inflict elsewhere.
“Let’s be clear though: Goodwin is backed by Tommy Robinson and wants to use his toxic politics to drive a wedge between communities in Manchester. Only a vote for Labour’s Angeliki Stogia will take Gorton and Denton forwards, united, and stop Farage’s division from pulling local communities apart.”
A Reform spokesman said: “Matt made these comments when Robert Jenrick was a Conservative MP as part of the rough and tumble of British politics.
“The fact that Matt who has never been a Tory and is now our candidate in the Gorton & Denton by-election speaks volumes about how Reform is attracting support from across all parties and none.“
