Joey Barton appears to back conspiracy theorist citing the Magna Carta to avoid coronavirus regulations

The Fleetwood Town manager is no stranger to controversy

Fleetwood Town manager Joey Barton (PA)

Joey Barton has courted more controversy after appearing to support a conspiracy theorist online.

Barton retweeted a video appearing to show a Liverpudlian business owner refusing police officers’ requests to close a soft play centre, writing: “People having to fight for their existence,” with a peace symbol.

In the video, the man points to article 61 of the Magna Carta – a common trope of conspiracy theorists who reject government action to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Clause 61, known as the ‘security clause’, was written into the 13th century charter to give the council of barons the right to rebel against King John were he to break any of its other rights. It never made it to statute law, and 800 years later it holds no legal relevance, but some now wrongly claim that it gives citizens the right to take action against the government without fear of reprisal.

Barton, the manager of League One club Fleetwood Town, has in the past commented on philosophy on society, tweeting about Friedrich Neitzsche and appearing on Question Time. He once told The Independent that how thought the Church of England should be disestablished and that religion “should be privatised”.

In a 2018 interview with the Guardian, Barton mentions having “incredible conversations about JFK conspiracy theories” with a colleague at Fleetwood.