Former actor turned aspiring right-wing politician Laurence Fox has been granted a retrial in a case where he was allegedly called a racist on social media.
Fox’s counter-claim in a defamation trial, which he lost, was originally turned down by the court. It’s now been ruled that his counter claim should have been permitted to proceed, but it will not overturn the finding that Fox had defamed two men who he labeled pedophiles in his retort.
The online interaction began when he called for a boycott of British supermarket Sainsbury after they voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement. in response charity trustee Simon Blake, Colin Seymour who is best known as drag performer Crystal, and broadcaster Nicola Thorp all allegedly called him a racist.
Fox responded by called the two men pedophiles. They successfully sued him for defamation and he weas ordered to pay £180,000 in damages.
Now the court has ordered that his original counterclaim be heard, but the court refused his application to appeal the original outcome, but they have halved the amount of damages he is required to pay.
On Friday, Lord Justice Dingemans, Lady Justice Elisabeth Laing and Lord Justice Warby ruled in Mr Fox’s favour on his counter-claims and level of damages.
Lord Justice Warby said the tweets describing Mr Fox as a racist caused serious harm to his reputation and his libel claim should be reconsidered at a retrial. While Justice Dingemans said the amount he’d been ordered to pay was “manifestly excessive”.
Fox is best known for his long running role in the British TV series Lewis. He played the role of Detective James Hathaway from 2006 until 2015, but he’s subsequently launched a career as a right-wing political commentator and become regular candidate at elections.
Laurence Fox was previously married to singer and actor Billie Piper. In 2016 he launched a music career, but he later turned to politics launching the right-wing Reclaim party.
He is part of the Fox acting dynasty, his father James Fox has enjoyed a long career, as has his uncle Edward Fox. His cousin Emilia Fox stars in the television series Silent Witness, while her younger brother Freddie Fox has appeared in many series including Cucumber, Banana, Slow Horses, Doctor Who and The Great.
