GB News presenter to pay Green Party deputy ‘substantial damages’ over false Harehills riot claims
“While buses burned, I stayed there to limit the damage.”
A GB News presenter and a social media commentator have apologised and will pay damages to the deputy leader of the Green Party after wrongly suggesting he participated in a riot.
Mothin Ali, a councillor on Leeds City Council for Gipton and Harehills, attended the 2024 Harehills riots to assist police and appeal for calm but posts on social media accused him of taking part in the rioting, the High Court heard on Friday (October 16).
Ali sued GB News presenter Alex Armstrong and social media commentator Bernadette Spofforth for defamation over posts on X, formerly Twitter, but they have now apologised and have agreed to pay “substantial damages”.
Ms Spofforth rose to prominence after being arrested for sharing a fake name and false information about the perpetrator of the Southport knife attack online but did not face any charges and has since written a book on politics entitled A War to Win Back Your World.
The unrest in Harehills involved widespread disorder and violent confrontations between local residents and police officers. Yet another person was sentenced for their role in the trouble at Leeds Crown Court this week.
Appearing at the High Court in London on Friday, Samantha Thompson, representing Mr Armstrong and Ms Spofforth, said the pair “apologise to the claimant for the serious harm to his reputation and his distress”.
The court heard Mr Armstrong published two posts viewed more than 3.1 million times while Ms Spofforth’s post was viewed 216,000 times.
Mr Armstrong’s second post suggested Mr Ali had sought to dishonestly distance himself from the rioting.
Reading a statement in court agreed between Mr Ali and Mr Armstrong, Axel Landin, representing Mr Ali, said that a senior police officer had requested the councillor’s assistance at the riots to help quell unrest.
He said Mr Ali “attended the scene, appealed for calm, acted as a liaison between police and the community, escorted members of the public away from danger and put out fires himself.”
Mr Landin said the allegations were republished by others, causing Mr Ali to be stopped on the street on numerous occasions “forcefully and in strong language”.
He said: “He has also suffered vile racist abuse online. This has caused the claimant significant harm, upset, distress and embarrassment.”
In a statement outside court, Mr Ali said: “While buses burned, I stayed there to limit the damage.
“To limit the harm to my community and for my service to my community, I was not only accused of rioting, but something I take even more seriously: my honesty was brought into question.”
He said he had been on the scene “wrestling pallets out of people’s hands, pulling bins from fires and rallying the community to gather water to put out the fires”.
Mr Ali said his family lived in fear after the social media posts and his car was damaged.
He added: “Black and brown public figures not only do not always get the recognition deserved and more than earned, but they get a level of scrutiny and smears far greater than their counterparts.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: “My friend and colleague Mothin is a hero.
“He did exactly what an excellent councillor would do, working to calm down and heal division, and was praised across party lines at the time for doing so.
“His win today against right-wing smears is a win not only for him, but for all global majority politicians, whatever party they serve, in their fight against racist abuse.”
Asked outside court if the Green Party remains a safe place for Jewish members following an anti-Zionist policy adopted at the party’s conference, Mr Ali replied: “Absolutely is.”