At the Political Book Awards earlier this year, Matthew Goodwin and Rob Ford took home the £10,000 top prize for their book on the rise of Ukip, Revolt on the Right.
However, word reaches Steerpike that despite their success the literary duo have rather diverging views when it comes to their subject. In fact, the pair’s bickering on social media caused one user to liken it to ‘the Twitter version of seeing parents having a row’.
Ford, who lectures at the University of Manchester, took to Twitter to assert that he is the co-author of the book after Goodwin failed to name check him in a tweet:
.@GoodwinMJ @DPJHodges I co-authored that and I think this is a terrible poll for them there. Getting trounced in key target.
— Rob Ford (Britain) (@robfordmancs) April 27, 2015
It didn’t stop there, with the pair going on to argue further about Ukip polls:
@GoodwinMJ you may want to update your Red Box piece. UKIP performance in target seats not looking so hot on these poll numbers — Rob Ford (Britain) (@robfordmancs) April 27, 2015
And, finally, a bit more tit-for-tat:
@robfordmancs will you be writing sequel to your assertion that Ukip pose “direct threat” in Waveney, Plymouth MV & Rother Valley?!
— Matthew Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) April 27, 2015
Happily, Ford assures Mr S that rather than a serious rift, this is simply a case of lively debate. ‘We haven’t fallen out. We’ve always challenged each other’s views and had discussions like this, it’s just I suppose that more people are watching now,’ he says.
Ford does at least concede that the pair differ over their visions on how Ukip will fare in the election. ‘I am quite surprised at how poorly they have been doing, whereas Matthew is a bit more optimistic than me about their chances of success,’ he says. ‘He may know things I don’t though as he spends more time with the party.’
With the pair now working on individual projects, Mr S hopes their ‘lively exchange’ cools down for the sake of their followers.
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