Matt Goodwin to speak at fascist 'black tie dinner'

Matt Goodwin, former academic and leading figure in Reform UK, is set to speak at a fascist ‘black tie dinner’ in June. 

On their website, Traditional Britain Group (TBG) advertised the guest speaker at their event as, “a well-known mainstream British political figure most closely associated with issues of demographic change. Controversial on both The Left and even in some sections of the British Right.” TBG note that the name of the speaker is “being withheld for now.” In an email to supporters of the group TBG revealed that the speaker would in fact be Matt Goodwin.

TBG bridges the gap between the hard right of mainstream Conservatism and explicit fascism. It was founded in 2001 by Gregory Lauder-Frost following the demise of the Conservative Party-aligned Monday Club and the far-right Western Goals Institute. Past speakers have included American alt-right activist Richard Spencer, Austrian identitarians Martin Sellner and Markus Willinger, and co-founder of Britain's largest neo-Nazi group, Patriotic Alternative, Laura Melia. Posts by Laura Melia and party leader Mark Collett in support of Sam Melia - husband of Laura and former member of proscribed group National Action - have been shared on TBG’s Telegram channel.

In 2013 the then-Conservative MP Jacob-Rees Mogg apologised after addressing the TBG annual dinner, claiming ignorance of the group’s far right connections and stating that members’ remarks were “so deeply disgraceful and shocking that they have no place in decent political debate”.

Goodwin had a long career as an academic before pivoting into right wing commentary and political activism. He recently stood for Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton by-election, where he lost to now Green Party MP Hannah Spencer. He also works as a presenter on the right wing channel GB News, which is owned by the mulit-millionaire Paul Marshall. 

Goodwin has courted controversy in recent years through a series of incendiary remarks. In 2025, following a stabbing in Cambridgeshire Goodwin said, “It takes more than a piece of paper to make someone British.” He has characterised immigration to the UK as an “invasion”.

Earlier this year, Goodwin was ridiculed for his latest book, Suicide of a Nation, which appeared to have some references that were generated by Chat GPT.

TBG conferences in 2023 and 2024 took place at St Ermins Hotel in Westminster, with last year’s conference held at the Paddington Hilton. The upcoming dinner is set to be held on 13 June at what TBG describes as a “prestigious Central London hotel”.