Charity 'launches legal challenge' against name of Laurence Fox's political party

10 October 2020, 22:39

Laurence Fox is facing a legal challenge over the name of his new political party
Laurence Fox is facing a legal challenge over the name of his new political party. Picture: PA
Nick Hardinges

By Nick Hardinges

A youth charity has launched a legal challenge over the name of actor Laurence Fox's new Reclaim political party.

The actor could see his political ambitions immediately undermined after a charity also named Reclaim sent a "cease and desist" legal letter to him demanding he renames his Reclaim Party.

Fox, 42, launched the new group recently with defending free speech among its aims, as well as reforming public institutions, such as the BBC, and celebrating British history.

However, the non-profit organisation, which teaches leadership skills to young working-class people, said it wants to prevent the actor from using the name Reclaim.

The charity, which is based in Manchester and was established in 2007, said its letter to Mr Fox gave him until Wednesday to drop the title.

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It claims that the document to the aspiring politician says that using the name Reclaim is likely to cause "substantial damage to its own reputation and goodwill".

Mr Fox has already raised more than £1 million for his new project, which includes large donations from former Conservative backers, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

He has previously divided opinion while taking aim at "woke" culture and said he had broken up with an ex girlfriend after she praised a Gillette advert which highlighted "toxic masculinity".

Mr Fox, a former star of TV detective series Lewis and ex-husband of actress Billie Piper, also clashed with academic Rachel Boyle on BBC Question Time after she called him a "white privileged male".

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