Matthew James Goodwin (born 17 December 1981) is a British academic who is Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. he is a commissioner of the Social Mobility Commission. Early life and education He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in politics and contemporary history from the University of Salford in 2003 and a Master of Arts degree in political science from the University of Western Ontario in 2004, and completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree under the supervision of Roger Eatwell at the University of Bath in 2007. Academic career Goodwin was Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Nottingham from 2010 to 2015, Research Fellow at the Institute for Political and Economic Governance (IPEG) at the University of Manchester from 2008 to 2010 and, between 2010 and 2020, Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs at Chatham House where he authored numerous research reports on the rise of populism, Euroscepticism ahead of the Brexit vote, the different political tribes of Europe and the future of Europe. Since 2015, he has been Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. Goodwin is also a former senior fellow for the think tank UK in a Changing Europe, and was the founding director of the Centre for UK Prosperity within the Legatum Institute. His research focuses on British politics, radical-right politics, and Euroscepticism. He is the co-editor of The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain (Routledge), and co-author (with Roger Eatwell) of National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy. He is also the author of New British Fascism: Rise of the British National Party (Routledge) and co-author (with Robert Ford) of Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain (Routledge, 2014). His research has appeared in the New Statesman, The Guardian, The Westminster Hour and Prospect magazine. On 27 May 2017, he predicted that Labour would not reach 38 per cent of the vote in the 2017 general election and he would eat his book if they did. Labour did and, on 10 June, Goodwin chewed one page out of his book, live on Sky News. Some researchers criticised Goodwin and Eric Kaufmann for joining a public debate on immigration which, they argued, encouraged "normalisation of far right ideas." Goodwin is on the