Laurence Fox compared himself to Nigel Farage and claimed that he faced similar issues to being “debanked” over a Twitter row in which he was branded racist, a court heard.

The actor, 45, said his bank had regularly questioned legitimate transactions and that his car insurance premium increased by almost £9,000 in the wake of the row in which he called three people “paedophiles”.

The Reclaim Party founder entered a witness box on the fourth day of a libel trial in London over an exchange on Twitter, now known as X, about a decision by Sainsbury’s to provide a safe space for black employees during Black History Month.

Mr Fox called for a boycott of the supermarket in October 2020 and was called “a racist” by the drag artist Crystal, the former Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and the actress Nicola Thorp.

The 45-year-old subsequently termed each of the trio as a “paedophile”, prompting the libel action by Mr Blake and the drag star, also known as Colin Seymour.

Mr Fox, who denies being a racist, is counter-suing the trio over their tweets and started giving his evidence in London on Monday morning.

‘Reputation-destroying allegation’

In his written evidence, the actor said he was “horrified” when he saw he had been called a racist, which he later described as “a career-ending word and a reputation-destroying allegation”.

He continued: “It was very hurtful. Firstly, as it is not true and secondly, because it was baseless: it felt as if the claimants had posted it to try and destroy me. I felt that one of the most important things I had in this world was my good name, and they were trying to ruin it.”

In a 24-page statement, the Lewis star – who said he did not consider himself to be a “traditionally handsome or hunky” actor – claimed by 2020 he was earning at least £500,000 to £600,000 a year from acting.

However, Mr Fox said his “life was destroyed by what they did” and that he had become a target.

The court heard that on two occasions after the claim against him was filed, faeces were posted through Mr Fox’s door.

‘Children no longer feel safe’

He said that Billie Piper, his former wife, was “concerned” that their two children were no longer safe in the house, adding: “I thought she had every right to feel that way; every mother would be worried.”

The actor also said his professional life was “irreparably harmed, if not destroyed” with the loss of his former acting agent, Sue Latimer, and a dramatic drop in his income.

Mr Fox said: “Without the prospect of work from her and the income from it, I couldn’t get a mortgage.

“The only income I earned at that point was from the Reclaim Party. To this day I haven’t bought a house. I only received one mortgage offer very recently and it was far too high and wouldn’t have been worth my while to take it.”

Mr Fox later said he had faced similar issues to the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage being “debanked”, with his bank “regularly questioning” legitimate transactions, and claimed his car insurance premium increased by nearly £9,000.

He added in his witness evidence that he had a “vibrant and busy” work life before the tweets and before Ms Latimer dropped him. He said he was asked to audition for roles including Batman and Succession, and for “multiple other Netflix, Disney+ and HBO productions”.