Fact Check: Image of Reform by-election candidate appears to use false quote

Nick Buckley – Advance UK’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election – reposted a claim on X alleging that his opponent, Matthew Goodwin of Reform UK, had said that he “hated” living in Manchester.

Alongside a photo of Mr Goodwin, a quote supposedly from the candidate in a newspaper read: “I lived in Manchester for a few months as a student. I hated it, the locals are all chavs and the city is an eyesore.”

A newspaper’s logo is in the image.

Evaluation

The photo shared is taken from a newspaper article for which Mr Goodwin was interviewed. The newspaper shared the article on social media with the same image of Mr Goodwin, but with different text.

The supposed quote of Mr Goodwin saying he “hated” living in Manchester or describing locals as “chavs” is not in the article and it does not appear to be elsewhere online.

The facts

A Google search of the quote in the image did not reveal any results for a news article.

A reverse image search showed the photo of Mr Goodwin is from a newspaper interview which was posted to X and also to Facebook on February 1, but with a different text. The original posts said: “If I win, Starmer will resign, says Reform’s candidate for Gorton and Denton”.

The full news article does not quote Mr Goodwin saying he “hated” living in Manchester or describing the locals as “chavs”.

The reverse image search also shows the photo with the likely falsified quote has been shared online before.

The links

Repost on X (archived)

Post on X of article (archived)

Post on Facebook of article (archived)

If I win, Starmer will resign, says Reform’s candidate for Gorton and Denton (archived)

Post on Threads of edited image (archived)

Post on X of edited image (archived)