Damages for Greens deputy over false disorder claims

A man wearing a flat cap stands outside a court building and addresses members of the press.

Image source, Press AssociationImage caption,

Mothin Ali will receive 'substantial damages' over the defamatory posts

Published17 minutes ago

A TV 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 disorder.

Mothin Ali, a councillor on Leeds City Council, attended the 2024 Harehills unrest to assist police and appeal for calm, but posts on social media accused him of taking part in the trouble, the High Court heard.

Ali sued GB News presenter Alex Armstrong and social media commentator Bernadette Spofforth for defamation over posts on X. Both have apologised and agreed to pay "substantial damages".

Speaking outside court, Ali said: "The harm is already done. The smears leave their stench, even when proven to be false."

Trouble erupted in Harehills on the evening of 18 July 2024 after police helped social workers who were taking four children into emergency foster care.

Hundreds of people took to the streets, with a police car flipped over and a double-decker bus torched.

"I tried my absolute best to calm tensions, to protect police officers," said Ali, who has been deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales since 2025.

"I stayed on the scene to calm rioters and to reassure residents while buses burned. I stayed there to limit the damage, to limit the harm to my community.

"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."

A growd gathers as a bus burns in the middle of the street.

Image caption,

A torched double-decker bus has become an enduring image of the Harehills unrest

As a result of the negative coverage, Ali said he was "harassed for days and weeks" and his family "lived in fear".

His car was also damaged.

"The context of this is how black and brown people are treated when they enter public life," he told reporters gathered outside the court.

Samantha Thompson, who represented Armstrong and Spofforth, a businesswoman from the Chester area, said the pair "apologise to the claimant for the serious harm to his reputation and his distress".

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said Ali was a "hero" for his actions on the night, adding: "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."