A Manchester Charity Isn't Happy That Laurence Fox Is Using The Same Name As Them For His New Political Party
3 min read
Manchester charity RECLAIM has complained to the Electoral Commission about actor Laurence Fox using the same name for his new political party, which they describe as a cynical attempt to "import American culture wars".
The charity, which has been supporting working class youngsters in the region since 2007, wrote a series of furious Twitter posts after reading about Fox calling his fledgling political party Reclaim.
They will be contacting the Electoral Commission to say their name was in use first, and claimed Fox was an attention seeker who is trying to divide working class communities.
In a statement on Twitter, they said: "The last thing this country needs is a cynical attempt to import American culture wars to Britain. If reports are correct someone seems to want to do that and to appropriate our charity's name into the bargain."
They also posted: "Sorry the name's taken...by something that's actually by working class people for working class people."
RECLAIM was set up in Moss Side by Ruth Ibegbuna, to try to improve the potential outcomes for working class children and teenagers.
On their website they say young working class people are "written off due to their postcodes or through appallingly low expectations of their outcomes" and recent work has included a leaders programme for young women.
This morning, they posted: "Apparently this new outfit already has £5m from their minted pals for their 'culture war'. Our young leaders + the support they get from people are the antidote to division."
They asked for people serious about supporting working-class people to donate to them instead.
Fox, 42, said he wanted his new party to reclaim British values that have been lost in current politics and make a “new political movement which promises to make our future a shared endeavour, not a divisive one”.
He gained notoriety as an outspoken opponent of political correctness when he took part in a BBC Question Time debate and claimed that being called a white privileged male was racist.
It comes as Fox was seen drinking with Tory MP Ben Bradley last week in Portcullis House.
Bradley has been a critic of a 'woke agenda' in public life and has recently said he will not take part in Parliament's voluntary unconscious bias training programme recommended for all MPs.
He told PoliticsHome: "The nature of the drink was just that; a drink with a friend. Can assure you I have absolutely zero intention of joining Reclaim, nor has he asked me to."
A spokesperson for Mr Fox said: "Laurence has a great deal of sympathy with the notion that class should be no barrier to social mobility and is willing to engage in a proper discussion of an important issue.
"However, it is pushing things to accuse him of attention seeking when the charity concerned has spent all morning seeking attention. Equally preposterous is the notion that he has 'imported American culture wars' to which his project is, in fact, a response and antidote."
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