David Irving is a historian, and in his books he writes that the entire history of the Holocaust was exaggerated by Jews. He claims not to deny that the Holocaust actually occurred, but denies the numbers involved and the use of systematic extermination:

There are so many Auschwitz survivors going around, in fact the number increases as the years go past, which is biologically very odd to say the least. Because I'm going to form an Association of Auschwitz survivors, survivors of the Holocaust and other liars, or the A-S-S-H-O-L-S... you've got to be tasteless because these people deserve all our contempt.
- David Irving, Bayerische Hof, Milton, Ontario, Canada, 5 October, 1991.

Whilst Irving has a right to hold whatever point of view he sees fit, he made the mistake of launching a libel appeal against Deborah Lipstadt, who questioned his claim to be a historian and branded him a 'Hitler partisan' in her book Denying the Holocaust.

Irving lost his libel action, and Mr Justice Gray, the presiding judge, denounced him as

... an active Holocaust denier, anti-Semitic, racist and associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.
- Justice Gray, 11 April, 2000.

Irving says that Lipstadt's book has incited hatred against him, and destroyed his livelihood by losing him his reputation as a historian.

Irving now has a £2m legal bill, which he is expected to pay before launching an appeal, and is now embarking on a fund-raising roadshow, addressing right-wing Americans to raise money. Many people believe that the likelihood of him winning an appeal is low.