Nicola Thorp shares her experience of libel trial with Laurence Fox

Nicola Thorp spoke yesterday to The News Agents podcast about her experience during the High Court libel trial…

Broadcaster Nicola Thorp, has shared with The News Agents podcast her experience during the High Court libel trial with former GB News presenter and contributor Laurence Fox, sharing that Mr Fox performed the Haka twice during cross-examination in court.

Speaking to podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel, Nicola also revealed how intimidated she felt and shared whether she feels relieved now the case is over. 

Sharing what her experience was like at the High Court, Nicola told Emily and Jon: 

‘[His behaviour was] wild. I mean, also to add I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time, so I had lots of other things going on in my head. It was intimidating. It’s one thing to read these words on Twitter. It’s another thing to have them read out in court by his barrister in the wig and the gown and everything… it just felt even more intimidating…

‘There was an awful lot of pressure on there. His demeanour in court… He genuinely seems to believe what he says, and I think he is quite easy to make fun of on Twitter. And other people say actually, he’s someone you should take seriously. Whilst I don’t think he should take his politics necessarily seriously, he’s backed by very influential, very wealthy people. So, it’s certainly not somebody who we should just be going, ‘Oh, he’ll just disappear if you ignore him.’ He’s not that boy in the playground. He is the boy who if you ignore him, he will continue to pull the pigtails of everyone else in the room.’

Explaining how Laurence Fox performed the Haka in court, Nicola said:

 ‘He did it twice, this was during a cross-examination regarding taking the knee and he was talking about meaningless kind of gestures in sports and how somebody shouldn’t take the knee instead, they should be aggressive and then he just went on and performed the Haka…

‘This was before I went to give my evidence, and the judge is sat right in front of me, and I’m trying my best not to laugh. I’m just trying to keep a straight face as much as possible, which is very difficult at times.’

Laurence Fox – GB News

Laurence Fox – GB News

 Asked if she feels a sense of relief now the court case has concluded, Nicola replied:

 ‘I do, but I think yesterday, I became quite worried no matter what the result was going to be, and he even said it himself, any result is a loss, and any result is a win to him. Whatever happens, he will use it to decide the direction of his next political campaign.’ 

Further asked what her advice to other people in the same situation would be, Nicola said:

 ‘I think he hasn’t been chastened but, I would argue that perhaps more of his followers have seen him for what he really is, during this process, and are actually saying, do you know, what, you potentially need to get help. He doesn’t see it that way, at all. But I think that it has shone a light on the justice system, and the fact that yes, we have a right to freedom of speech in this country, but he was not exercising his right to freedom of speech. He was exercising his right to, as he said, falsely, and he admitted it was false, falsely accuse two gay men, and myself with being paedophiles and the law won’t stand for that.

‘That meant so much to my gay and queer friends who went you know what, there are people out there who were standing up for us on the internet, equally, my friends of colour who have gone you know, finally, somebody has stood up to him, the three of us, you know, and said, you’re racist, and we’re not going to back down if you threaten us with legal action.’

Catch up with The News Agents podcast featuring Nicola Thorp on Global Player