Matthew Goodwin

This article is about the British academic. For the Australian rugby player, see Matt Goodwin. For the percussionist, see Matthew Goodwin (percussionist).

Matthew Goodwin
Goodwin at Chatham House in 2011
Born	Matthew James Goodwin (1981-12-17) 17 December 1981
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Salford University of Western Ontario University of Bath
Doctoral advisor	Roger Eatwell
Academic work
Discipline	Political science
Institutions	University of Nottingham University of Kent
Website	mattgoodwin.org

Matthew James Goodwin (born 17 December 1981) is a British academic who is Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. As of September 2022 he is a commissioner of the Social Mobility Commission. He is the author of a Substack with nearly 18,000 subscribers

Early life and education

Goodwin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in politics and contemporary history from the University of Salford in 2003 and obtained a Master of Arts degree in political science from the University of Western Ontario in 2004. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree under the supervision of Roger Eatwell at the University of Bath in 2007.

Academic career

Goodwin was Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Nottingham from 2010 to 2015, Research Fellow at the Institute for Political and Economic Governance (IPEG) at the University of Manchester from 2008 to 2010, and, between 2010 and 2020, Associate Fellow at Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) where he authored numerous research reports on the rise of populism, Euroscepticism ahead of the Brexit vote, the different political tribes of Europe, and the future of Europe.

Since 2015, he has been Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. Goodwin is also a former senior fellow for the think tank UK in a Changing Europe, and was the founding director of the Centre for UK Prosperity within the Legatum Institute.

His research focuses on British politics, radical-right politics, and Euroscepticism.

He is the co-editor of The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain (Routledge), and co-author (with Roger Eatwell) of National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy. He is also the author of New British Fascism: Rise of the British National Party (Routledge) and co-author (with Robert Ford) of Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain (Routledge, 2014). His research has appeared in the New Statesman, The Guardian, The Westminster Hour and Prospect magazine.

On 27 May 2017, he predicted that Labour would not reach 38 per cent of the vote in the 2017 general election and he would eat his book if they did. Labour did (the party won 40.0% of the popular vote) and, on 10 June, Goodwin chewed one page out of his book, live on Sky News.

In 2018, Goodwin along with other commentators including Eric Kaufmann, Claire Fox, Trevor Phillips and David Aaronovitch was due to take part in an event titled "Is Rising Ethnic Diversity a Threat to the West?" Some researchers criticised Goodwin and the other participants, arguing that the event would encourage "normalisation of far right ideas" and criticising the framing of the title. The debate was subsequently retitled "Immigration and Diversity Politics: A Challenge to Liberal Democracy?"

Goodwin is on the advisory panel of the Free Speech Union, a group founded by Toby Young that "stands up for the speech rights of its members" and seeks to "counter Twitter mobs that drown out opinions they dislike". He has also served as specialist adviser to the House of Commons Education Select Committee on left-behind pupils and has given evidence to a Public Bill Committee on the importance of defending academic freedom in universities.

In response to Goodwin tweeting "We either believe in academic freedom or we don’t" in support of Kathleen Stock in October 2021, his former coauthor Rob Ford highlighted "alleged legal threats Goodwin had sent to an academic writing about him on website OpenDemocracy" and told the Evening Standard "I consider such behaviour — issuing legal threats to scholars who critique your work — to be totally inconsistent with claims to support academic freedom". The academic concerned was Umut Özkirimli, who had labelled Goodwin, Eric Kaufmann and David Goodhart the "academic alt-right". Goodwin responded, "I did not issue legal threats to scholars. My e-mail was sent to the outlet which offered no right of reply and should have done."

Revolt on the Right (2014)

• Ford, Robert; Goodwin, Matthew (2014). Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain. Routledge. ISBN 9780415661508.

This "sparky academic study of the rise of Ukip" was selected by The Guardian as one of the best politics books of 2014, and was named as Paddy Power political book of the year for 2015. Writing in the Financial Times, Kiran Stacey described it as "rich in analytical data" and containing "the occasional anecdotal gem", while in The Spectator Vernon Bogdanor wrote that "This rigorous analysis of the rise of Ukip is the most important books [sic] on British politics for years".

Since the publication of their book together, Goodwin and Ford have "publicly drifted apart".

UKIP (2015)

• Goodwin, Matthew; Milazzo, Caitlin (2015). UKIP: Inside the Campaign to Redraw the Map of British Politics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198736110.

Writing in The Times, Philip Collins said that "Goodwin and Milazzo tell their tale with brio and a fine journalistic eye for the good story" and that "they are particularly good on the Ukip threat to Labour".

Brexit (2017)

• Clarke, Harold; Goodwin, Matthew; Whiteley, Paul (2017). Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316605042.

This "illuminating analysis of the many factors that swayed the referendum" was selected by Danny Dorling as Times Higher Education book of the week.

National Populism (2018)

• Eatwell, Roger; Goodwin, Matthew (2018). National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy. Pelican Books. ISBN 9780241312001.

This book attempts to explain national populism using a '4D model': destruction of the national culture due to large-scale international migration; deprivation of opportunities due to globalization and in the post-industrial economy with its frequent disruptions and slow growth; growing distrust by working-class and rural voters who feel increasingly alienated by liberal cosmopolitan city-dwelling political and media elites; and de-alignment from traditional allegiances, which can be seen in high levels of voter volatility, or people switching from one party to another between elections.

Values, Voice and Virtue (2023)

• Goodwin, Matthew (2023). Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780141999098.

Values, Voice and Virtue, published by Penguin in 2023, was a Sunday Times Bestseller, entering the non-fiction chart on 9 April 2023 at Number 2 in general paperbacks. It was also listed among the Financial Times books of 2023 to watch.

In the Financial Times, Nick Pearce noted: "Goodwin's central thesis is that the rise of the radical right, the Brexit referendum and Johnson's general election victory of 2019 are expressions of a deeper realignment in UK politics that pits the marginalised white working class, socially conservative older voters and the 'non-graduate majority' against a new elite of university-educated progressives". Chris Jarvis for Left Foot Forward described Goodwin's argument as being that "a ‘new elite’ has emerged in Britain, which is central to the running of the country’s political and media institutions. His core contention is that this ‘elite’ is drawn from a particular class in society and that its supposed liberalism on issues like migration and LGBTIQA+ rights are divorced from the values of most of the electorate". Jarvis noted that this "thesis has been highly contentious, not least because the government of the day has shown itself to be anything but liberal on these issues". He noted that "Goodwin has also faced criticism for appearing to suggest that left wing liberals have more influence over British society than – for example – landlords, billionaires or the right wing press."

Reviewing the book in The Times, Sebastian Payne described the book as "forceful", writing: "The fundamental thrust of Goodwin's argument is right ... a new centre ground of British politics is being formed - even if both parties have yet to fully comprehend it".

Reviewing the book in the New Statesman, Oliver Eagleton wrote that its "argument is wearily familiar: that the UK's elite stratum has become divorced from the conservative instincts of the majority; that the commanding heights of our culture – media, universities, political parties – have been captured by cosmopolitans who impose their outlook on the rest of the country; and that this woke mob has cultivated a censorious political climate to silence its opponents". Eagleton argued that Goodwin had become "part of the right-populist movement he once sought to explain".

Sunder Katwala wrote that "Matthew Goodwin's argument is that the vote for Brexit in 2016 and the general election result of 2019 were just part of a broader rebellion against the 'new ruling class and the political project they have imposed on the country over the last fifty years'. ... Goodwin empathises strongly with the revolt and is a cheerleader for the realignment. He probably knows the data as well as anybody, but he deploys that evidence selectively, more in the style of a prosecuting barrister than a dispassionate judge, for this is a book as much of advocacy as analysis. The central message of Values, Voice and Virtue is that the liberals still don't get it. He argues that the dominant response of those on the losing side of the 2016 referendum was to 'deride' much of the country as 'ignorant bigots, racists, fascists, Nazis and gammons'. The wish to rebut one-dimensional caricatures of the Leave tribe is a valid one, but Goodwin is not above dishing out caricatures of the other half of the country all the same."

Responding to an article that Goodwin wrote for The Sun to accompany the book, David Aaronovitch wrote that "Goodwin's strange but doubtless lucrative journey from respected political analyst to tabloid columnist - from David Butler to Kelvin McKenzie [sic] – is a wonder in itself".

Kenan Malik wrote that Goodwin's argument that members of what he portrays as the "new elite", including Gary Lineker, Mehdi Hasan and Sam Freedman, "shape our lives more than Rishi Sunak or Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England is, to put it politely, stretching credulity". Malik further stated: "One could plausibly argue that someone like Goodwin himself shapes public debate more than most of the "new elite" to whom he points".

Martin Shaw wrote that the book is "a debasement of social-scientific elite theory". Former Conservative cabinet minister David Willetts wrote that "Goodwin is right that white, working-class men have had a tough time, but the book is almost entirely about culture wars and lacks any serious account of economic pressures". Nick Pearce noted that "for the most part, his story is one of culture wars, not class conflict. Goodwin’s new ruling class is composed of “woke” liberal professionals, rather than owners of capital or bankers". Gerry Hassan wrote that Goodwin "has little of substance to say on the state of the economy and poor wages, employment conditions and endemic poverty as contributors to dissatisfaction", arguing that "it suits his validation of right-wing populism to prioritise “culture war” issues and charge that an out-of-touch liberal elite does not care about working-class or north-of-England concerns. Goodwin has gone from an observer to a participant."

Honours

In 2014, aged 33, Goodwin was awarded the Richard Rose Prize by the Political Studies Association, which is given to one early-career academic each year for their contribution to research.

See also

• David Goodhart
• Eric Kaufmann

External links

• Official website
• Matt Goodwin's Substack newsletter