Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin faced GB News complaint over colleague’s claim of ‘inappropriate comments’

Exclusive: Nigel Farage understood to have known of grievance against byelection candidate, whose lawyer described it as resolved ‘minor workplace matter’ of miscommunication

Matt Goodwin, Reform UK’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection, was accused by a young woman working at GB News of making inappropriate comments which she viewed as sexually harassing, the Guardian can reveal.

The junior staffer complained to HR last year alleging Goodwin had made inappropriate comments, one regarding her appearance, sources say. Goodwin, 44, volunteered an apology after the complaint had been raised.

The woman is understood to have complained to the network’s HR department in 2025. She later left the network for unrelated reasons.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is understood to have been told by a senior member of staff at GB News about the complaint prior to Goodwin’s selection as the party’s candidate for next week’s byelection.

A number of sources have told the Guardian that they were aware of the woman’s complaint against Goodwin and that GB News had undertaken an inquiry into the complaint.

One source at the broadcaster said: “She was very upset at the time, and her colleagues were upset on her behalf that she was so distressed by the situation.”

Goodwin has denied acting inappropriately. A lawyer acting for him confirmed to the Guardian that a grievance had been raised. They said it related to two alleged verbal remarks made months apart and that no formal disciplinary action had been taken.

They said it was a “minor workplace matter” that had been resolved as a difference in perception or miscommunication. The investigator had found the young woman’s and Goodwin’s accounts of the situation were both credible, they said, giving Goodwin credit for offering an apology once the complaint had been raised.

Farage is understood to have decided the complaint was not serious enough to warrant a rethink about Goodwin’s selection. A source at GB News told the Guardian that Farage had characterised the complaint as “that is just Matt being Matt”.

Weeks after the complaint was raised, Goodwin was announced as the candidate for the byelection, which was triggered by the resignation of Andrew Gwynne for health reasons.

Goodwin has faced criticism during the campaign for comments he has made previously, including a 2024 suggestion that “young girls and women” should be given a “biological reality” check, described by the Labour MP Natalie Fleet as positing a “Handmaid’s Tale” future.

He has also been criticised for comments made last year on a podcast with the rightwing academic Jordan Peterson in which he said there had been a “feminisation of higher education”, after Peterson outlined this as a potential reason for “politically correct authoritarianism”.

Goodwin was described by some as a controversial choice for the byelection, after he claimed recently that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds were not necessarily British. After announcing his candidacy, he was swiftly endorsed by the far-right agitator and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson.

In a blog entry written in 2023, Goodwin suggested the government should “remove personal income tax for women who have two or more children”.

Goodwin spent most of his career as an academic before turning his eye to politics. He has spoken at various Reform UK events over the last year, and he has a Substack blog with 90,000 followers where he posts essays detailing his views.

He left academia in 2024 when he took voluntary severance as a professor at the University of Kent.

Reform UK did not respond to repeated requests for comment prior to publication. Goodwin and GB News also declined to provide an on-the-record comment.

Following publication, a spokesperson for Reform described the claims as “a desperate, last-minute smear by The Guardian, timed to damage Matt Goodwin days before polling day.”