Laurence Fox 'can't get mortgage' after racism allegations, court told

Actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox denies being a racist

Laurence Fox's life was "destroyed" by allegations of racism, the actor has told the High Court in a libel case.

Mr Fox said he could not get a mortgage after being called a "racist" by drag artist Crystal, ex-Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and actress Nicola Thorp.

Crystal - real name Colin Seymour - and Mr Blake are suing Mr Fox after he called them "paedophiles" in response.

Mr Fox, who denies being a racist, is counter-suing over their initial social media posts.

The dispute followed the actor's call to boycott Sainsbury's in October 2020 for its celebration of Black History Month, for which he was called "racist" by the trio on Twitter.

• Laurence Fox in libel battle over Twitter row

The Reclaim Party leader said he was "horrified" when he saw the tweets, later adding it was a "career-ending word, and a reputation-destroying allegation".

"It was very hurtful, firstly as it is not true, and secondly because it was baseless: it felt as if the claimants had posted it to try and destroy me," he said in his written statement.

"I felt that one of the most important things I had in this world was my good name, and they were trying to ruin it."

The former Lewis star claimed by 2020 he was earning between £500,000 and £600,000 a year from acting, but his "vibrant and busy" professional life had been "irreparably harmed, if not destroyed" following a dramatic drop in his income and loss of his former acting agent Sue Latimer.

"Without the prospect of work from her and the income from it, I couldn't get a mortgage," he said.

"The only income I earned at that point was from the Reclaim Party.

"To this day I haven't bought a house, I only received one mortgage offer very recently, and it was far too high and wouldn't have been worth my while to take it.

"It's a source of incredible sadness to me that my skill set, which has been highly trained, used at great length over 23 or 24 years - it's just been completely put away."

He said "life was destroyed by what they did", and that he had become a target.

The court heard that on two occasions after the claim against him was filed, faeces were posted through Mr Fox's door.

He said his ex-wife Billie Piper was "concerned" that their two children were no longer safe in the house.

Actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox denies being a racist

Earlier in the trial, Lorna Skinner KC, representing Mr Blake, Mr Seymour and Ms Thorp, said the three "honestly believed, and continue honestly to believe, that Mr Fox is a racist".

In written submissions, the barrister said the 45-year-old "has made a number of highly controversial statements about race".

She added: "If and to the extent that Mr Fox has been harmed in his reputation, it is his own conduct and not the claimants' comments on it that caused that harm."

Ms Skinner highlighted several of Mr Fox's social media posts, including a June 2022 tweet of four Pride flags arranged in the shape of a swastika.

"Such a disgusting post could only be made by a complete ignoramus or an intelligent racist with an agenda. Mr Fox is the latter," she said.

In his evidence discussing his call for a boycott of Sainsbury's, Mr Fox said the supermarket had been "essentially emotionally blackmailing their customers" and that he has not shopped there since.

"I felt that rather than genuinely trying to tackle racism, Sainsbury's were trying to improve their own image, branding themselves as the anti-racist supermarket," he said.

In evidence last week, Mr Seymour and Mr Blake told the court about the impact of being called a paedophile.

Mr Seymour said in a written statement that he had faced "overwhelming and distressing" abuse and felt less safe as a drag artist.

"On reading that he had called another gay man, Simon Blake, a paedophile, I felt Mr Fox was attempting to whip up a mob of bigots against us by using lies he knew would incense people," he added.

Mr Blake told the court the incorrect suggestion that gay men were paedophiles was "a trope as old as the hills".

Patrick Green KC, for Mr Fox, said on Monday in his written submissions that neither Mr Blake nor Mr Seymour had "suffered any actual, real-world consequences" due to the actor's tweets.

Instead, Mr Green said readers would have understood that Mr Fox's posts were a "retort to an allegation of racism" rather than a factual allegation.

The trial before Mrs Justice Collins Rice continues and is due to conclude this week with a decision expected at a later date.