Three Labour peers have been criticised by one of their party colleagues after speaking at the ‘Battle of Ideas’ festival, which is sponsored by a Reform mega-donor and which partnered with a far-right bookshop, which sells books by Joseph Goebbels and Oswald Mosley.

Labour MP Phil Brickell accused his colleagues of “legitimising” Reform’s crypto billionaire Ben Delo by participating in last weekend’s event, which was partnered with the far-right Oldspeak bookshop.

The festival, run by Baroness Claire Fox’s Academy of Ideas, partnered with the bookshop, as an official partner last weekend. Its guide pointed attendees their way, to source “works that challenge contemporary narratives and reinforce foundational beliefs”. Several speakers also conducted book signings at the stall.

As Byline Times recently reported, just days before, Oldspeak’s owner received a visit from police over an allegedly racist post on X. Oldspeak’s account frequently posts calls for “remigration” – the mass expulsion of people deemed not to be ‘British’ – but the visit focused on a photo the account posted of two Muslim men in the Suffolk village where it was previously based, captioned: “It’s started.” Responses included racist abuse.

The organisers had been asked about the bookshop’s more extreme content. This has included claiming that the black England footballer Marcus Rashford’s parents’ nationalities mean “he cannot be English”, and approvingly sharing a video arguing that entire communities four generations deep should be stripped of citizenship, detained and deported. Another post included the hashtag “#millionsmustgo”.