Laurence Fox has arrived at court with his wife to challenge a £180,000 High Court ruling after losing a libel battle against two men he branded ‘paedophiles’ online.
The actor-turned-politician was successfully sued last year by former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist Crystal over a row on X, formerly Twitter.
Fox, 47, called Mr Blake and the former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant, whose real name is Colin Seymour, ‘paedophiles’ in an exchange about a decision by Sainsbury’s to mark Black History Month in October 2020.
A High Court judge said Fox should pay both men £90,000 each in damages and slammed the Reclaim Party founder for trying to ‘attach blame and discredit’ the pair during litigation.
Shortly after the verdict was announced in April 2024, Fox called the result ‘so surreal it’s almost funny’ in a bizarre social media post in which he also claimed: ‘Lady justice ain’t blind. She’s got both eyes wide open.’
He wrote: ‘None of the claimants could provide a single witness in court to support the claim that they had suffered any harm. You get the same wonga if you lose a leg at work.
‘So surreal it’s almost funny. Lady justice ain’t blind. She’s got both eyes wide open. Will be appealing.’
Fox and his wife Elizabeth arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning as the right-wing online provocateur sought to make good on his vow to appeal the judgment.
Sporting a tattoo of a crucifix on his neck and smoking a cigarette, Fox arrived hand-in-hand with his wife, who he married earlier this year during a private ceremony.
The former actor was dressed in a white shirt, jeans and a pair of tan Vivo barefoot hiking boots worth about £296.
During the last court battle, Fox had counter-sued Mr Blake and Mr Seymour and broadcaster Nicola Thorp over tweets accusing him of racism.
In a previous judgment in January 2024, Mrs Justice Collins Rice ruled in favour of Mr Blake and Mr Seymour, dismissing Mr Fox’s counter-claims.
During a ruling in April of that year, the judge said Mr Fox should pay Mr Blake and Mr Seymour £90,000 each in damages.
She said: ‘By calling Mr Blake and Mr Seymour paedophiles, Mr Fox subjected them to a wholly undeserved public ordeal. It was a gross, groundless and indefensible libel, with distressing and harmful real-world consequences for them.’
During the previous court case, Lorna Skinner KC, for Mr Blake and Mr Seymour, had said the pair should receive ‘at least six-figure sums’ from Mr Fox, calling a suggestion the pair should only receive a ‘modest’ award ‘nonsense’.
However, Patrick Green KC, for Fox, said the starting point of damages should be between £10,000 and £20,000, with the total being ‘substantially lowered’ due to an apology from Mr Fox and the absence of malice.
Fox previously described the original judgment as a ‘bullies charter’ and said he disagreed ‘profoundly’ with the result.
He said in a post on X at the time: ‘I don’t know what the judge will award these people. But the costs of these proceedings are enormous. So a whopper of a cheque is getting written in the next few days.’
Fox added: ‘We are seeing the courts used maliciously across the west and that is a very concerning trend. So enjoy the victory guys and I hope it is short lived!’
Mrs Justice Collins Rice declined to make an order requiring the 47-year-old to publish a summary of the judge’s decision on his X account.
During a hearing in March 2024, Mr Green had said there was no need for the Lewis actor to publicise the ruling decision on his social media.
He said in written submissions: ‘This has been the most high-profile libel action of the year and both the trial and the judgment were massively reported in the media…. There can be few, if any, original publishees in the present case who will be unaware of its outcome.’
The barrister added: ‘The outcome of this long-running case literally could not be better known than it is already.
‘For whatever passing doubts or vague suspicions that may have at some time subsisted in the minds of readers, only a modest financial award in compensation should be due.’
Mr Green added: ‘The remarks were quickly retracted and apologised for, and at the very least it was clear to the public at large at an early stage that the allegation was baseless.’
MailOnline has approached Fox for comment.