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Reform investigates whether Makerfield candidate’s sexist posts were costly
TL;DR
Reform UK is investigating if sexist comments by candidate Robert Kenyon affected their performance in the Makerfield byelection, where he lost to Andy Burnham. Canvassers reported that voters, especially women, were deterred by Kenyon's lewd social media posts.
Key points
- Reform UK is investigating the impact of sexist comments by Robert Kenyon.
- Kenyon lost to Andy Burnham, who received 55% of the vote share.
- Voters reported being deterred by Kenyon's lewd social media posts.
- Reform activists advised Kenyon not to apologize for the comments.
Mentioned in this story
Robert KenyonAndy BurnhamReform UK
Reform UK is examining whether sexist comments by its candidate in the Makerfield byelection might have harmed the party’s chances, after Nigel Farage accepted the result had disappointed him.
The party’s examination of its defeat comes after Andy Burnham won 55% of the vote share in a poll which Reform hoped would be a tightly fought battle between the Labour leadership hopeful and its own candidate, the local plumber Robert Kenyon.
Canvassers from different parties reported that voters highlighted sexist and lewd social media posts by Kenyon, which emerged during the campaign, with women in particular saying they were put off by them.
After Kenyon came more than 9,000 votes behind Burnham in Thursday’s vote, one Reform activist said the party had advised the candidate not to apologise for the comments. “That’s something that was not his fault, it was how he was advised,” they said.
The issue rose to prominence when the TV presenter Carol Vorderman used a video posted online to demand an apology from Kenyon, after it emerged he had joined in a graphic discussion about her, in since-deleted posts.
“I will admit that the Vorderman stuff did not help us,” another Reform source said.
Farage’s party has pointed to the scale of the task it faced taking on as well-known a figure as Burnham, even in a seat demographically more favourable to Reform than Labour, saying Kenyon performed well to increase his share of the vote from 2024, even by just 2.7 percentage points.
The party was also slightly buoyed by Rupert Lowe’s far-right Restore UK taking just under 7% of the vote, less than some forecasts had predicted.
In a video message posted on X on Friday morning, Farage urged people who voted for Restore to back Reform instead, saying it was the only viable contender on the right of UK politics.
The result had been “a dramatic, emphatic win for Andy Burnham”, Farage said in the message.
Reform had hoped to win at least 18,000 votes, against the 15,696 it achieved, Farage said, arguing that his party had been “slightly hoist with our own petard” in taking on a Labour challenger whose implicit message had been that a vote for him was a vote to remove Keir Starmer, which was Reform’s slogan in May’s local election.
Q&A
What were the sexist comments made by Robert Kenyon?
Robert Kenyon's sexist comments included lewd social media posts that emerged during the Makerfield byelection campaign.
How did Andy Burnham perform in the Makerfield byelection?
Andy Burnham won the Makerfield byelection with 55% of the vote share, significantly ahead of Robert Kenyon.
What was the reaction of voters to Kenyon's posts?
Voters, particularly women, reported being put off by Kenyon's sexist and lewd posts, which were highlighted during canvassing.
What did Reform UK say about Kenyon's comments?
Reform UK is examining the impact of Kenyon's comments on their defeat and advised him not to apologize for the posts, attributing the guidance to his advisors.
