Bernie Spofforth

Spofforth pissing in the shallow end of TalkTV

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“”Anti-Lockdown campaigner Bernie Spofforth is symbolic of the overlap between those opposing public health measures (including COVID-19 deniers and anti-vaxx communities) and the anti-climate movement online. Like many others, her regular talking points include conspiracies about the World Economic Forum and the idea that achieving Net Zero will cause millions of deaths by ‘mass poverty’.

—Climate Action Against Disinformation: Deny, Deceive, Delay (Vol 2)

“”Get to fuck.

—Boxer Josh Taylor's response to Spofforth

Bernadette "Bernie" Spofforth (April 1969–), erroneously named Bonnie Spofforth in a widely churned Daily Mail report, is a UK based and South African educated businesswoman and swimwear inventor turned denialist and conspiracy theorist best known for her arrest for instigating race riots across the UK. Coming to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic tweeting out against public health measures around vaccines, masks and lockdowns, she later started spreading climate change misinformation related to Agenda 2030, The Great Reset, climate lockdown, and 15-minute cities, as well as anti-trans rhetoric, amassing over 235,000 followers on her primary account before losing it. ClimateDenierRoundup, pondering why a "supposedly successful" entrepreneur would decide to devote so much time to spreading disinformation on Twitter, concludes:

Well, in addition to the fact that Spofforth’s swimsuit business would indirectly benefit from decreased COVID restrictions, her heinous Twitter feed caught the attention of major right-wing news outlets in the UK and earned her interviews on conservative networks like TalkTV and GB News. Perhaps she enjoys the limelight!

She has written articles on economics, the environment and China for Byline Times and Country Squire Magazine, and been platformed as an expert by the likes of Julia Hartley-Brewer, Neil Oliver and Dan Wootton. This platforming was criticised in the wake of the 2024 United Kingdom riots, which were instigated, in part, by the spread of false details originating with Spofforth about the 2024 Southport stabbing, with Prof. Jonathan Portes stating on Talk TV:

It’s interesting that you mentioned Bernie Spofforth who was indeed the person who appears to have been the one who set off this false rumour about the incident in Southport because of course she appeared not once but several times on mainstream media, indeed on Talk TV a few years ago. That’s where she came to prominence.

Spofforth was arrested and held in custody for 36 hours by Cheshire police on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racist hatred and false communications in relation to a social media post containing inaccurate information about the identity of the attacker in the Southport murders. The police later announced that no further action would be taken due to insufficient evidence.

Going swimmingly

Spofforth, according to reporting around her role in instigating the 2024 UK riots, is a millionaire businesswoman and mother of three (including actor Theo and artist Issy) married to sculpture artist Colin Spofforth with whom she shares Stamford Mill Farm (a £1.5 million farmhouse just outside Chester in Cheshire, England).

Prior to her resignation in March 2024, Spofforth spent over a decade as Managing Director of safety swimwear company Splash About International and has one utility patent and a handful of design patents for children's swimwear to her name. COVID and climate change denialist Spofforth touted the company's flagship product for its environmentally-friendly reusability and its innovative silver lining, which allegedly prevents the spread of COVID-19 and other harmful bacteria and viruses, saying:

Choosing this reusable swim nappy means reducing our waste levels and lowering our environmental footprint and ensuring pool water is as clean as it can be - which can only be a positive thing.

ClimateDenierRoundup explains this apparent dichotomy:

Many climate disinfluencers will say anything that benefits them, even when it contradicts science or their own past statements. When Spofforth is trying to sell swimsuits, she is all for helping out the environment, but when she wants to stand in the right-wing spotlight, she’ll use the deniers’ favorite term “climate scam.” Do better, Bernie!

Before this Spofforth was a director of four dissolved companies, including acting as the co-founder and co-director of Intempo Digital, a company that sold wholesale electric household goods (including radios) from 2004 until its dissolution in 2011. Her LinkedIn profile attributes three other Directorships to her, namely European Micro Plc, The Brand Cloud Ltd and Ultimate Products PLC. However Companies House records do not show her as a Director of any of these (the first two of which are also dissolved).

Not waving but drowning

Spofforth flushed this seemingly idyllic life as she got out of her depth in the cesspool of pandemic and climate disinformation with a series of increasingly erratic tweets concluding with her apparent arrest.

Madness reigns

In a July 31, 2023, tweet, viewed 972,000 times, Spofforth falsely claimed that the 2022 United States Congress hearings on UFOs had included the reading of a letter from extraterrestrials warning of air and water contamination to which she responded:

Seriously this is the worst bit of incoherent nudging ever seen. Even the media know they can't pull this off! Madness reigns 🤡

The footage attached was in fact former Canadian defense minister Paul Hellyer reading an extract from The Keepers: An Alien Message for the Human Race (2006) by Jim Sparks at a 2021 so-called "Citizen Hearing".

If this is true, then all hell is about to break loose

Within hours of the 2024 Southport Stabbing, which resulted in the deaths of three young girls, Spofforth fanned the flames of hatred by spreading false information in a tweet seen by over 1.5 million people which read:

SOUTHPORT - If this is true, then all hell is about to break loose.

Southport Stabbings suspect, Ali-Al-Shakati, was on MI6 watch list and was known to Liverpool mental health services. He was an asylum seeker who came to UK by boat last year.

I’m done with the mental ‘health excuse’. You should be as well!

It wasn’t true, but all hell broke loose regardless as the dubious Islamic-sounding name and supporting details were picked up and elaborated upon by Channel3 Now, a fake news aggregation site, initially alleged to have Russian ties, and right-wing grifters, including Andrew Tate, Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage, fueling the racist hate which instigated the 2024 riots.

As public backlash and potential legal ramifications became increasingly apparent, veteran denialist Spofforth deleted her tweet and issued an anonymous denial to The Times stating:

Yes I did [post it] … It was a spur of the moment ridiculous thing to do, which has literally destroyed me. It was just a mistake. I did a really stupid stupid thing, I copied and pasted it from what I saw, and I added the line ‘if this is true’. I think it is very easy for a situation which is very emotional and very heightened, so you can end up believing what you’re seeing. People should be very careful about putting what they think is true without doing the research.

When tracked down by the Daily Mail and the BBC, Spofforth went on record by telling the former:

I'm mortified that I'm being accused of this. I did not make it up. I first received this information from somebody in Southport. My post had nothing to do with the violence we've seen across the country. But I acknowledge that it may have been the source for the information used by a Russian news website.

And the latter:

Why on earth would I make something up like that? I have nothing to gain and everything to lose.

Adding that she was “not motivated by making money” on her account.

No further action

Despite the veteran denialist's repeated denials of any and all responsibility, Spofforth was arrested by Cheshire police on August 8, 2024 on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racist hatred and false communications in relation to a social media post containing inaccurate information about the identity of the attacker in the Southport murders. She was released on bail 36 hours later.