Tory Michael Fabricant Issues Public Apology To Labour Donor After Sharing Guido Fawkes Post

Michael Fabricant arrives at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London for the announcement of the new Conservative party leader in 2022. Photo via Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire URN:68642757 (Press Association via AP Images)

Conservative MP Sir Michael Fabricant issued a public apology to businessman Dale Vince over a now-deleted tweet about comments the Labour donor made about Hamas in a Times Radio interview.

On March 13, Fabricant shared a post by right-wing political blog Guido Fawkes with an edited and out-of-context clip from an interview Vince had conducted. The headline accused Vince of claiming Hamas were “freedom fighters” with an accompanying video.

At the time, Vince blasted the “doctored video clip” as a “right-wing smear” which he said was designed to give “a false impression” of his views. He uploaded an additional clip in which he irrefutably agrees with the position that Hamas are terrorists.

In his apology, published via X, Fabricant wrote:

“On 13th March 2024, on X I posted a comment on a Guido article which claimed that Dale Vince, a Labour Party donor, is a supporter of Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation. This post referenced an article published by the website Guido Fawkes which included an edited clip of an interview with Dale Vince that had been taken out of context. The full clip of the interview makes it very clear that Dale does not support Hamas or its actions on 7th October last year. I am very pleased to hear this. Accordingly, I have now deleted the tweet, apologised to Dale, and hope this now sets the record very clear.”

Despite the apology the Guido Fawkes post remains online and has garnered almost 250,000 views. It was also shared by Reform UK leader Richard Tice, whose comment that Vince is “pro the murderous antisemitic Hamas” also remains online.