With just a matter of days to go until the Makerfield by-election, Reform may very well be wishing they’d hitched their wagon to a different candidate . Their man, self-employed plumber and self-described sexist Robert Kenyon, has taken part in several disastrous media appearances in recent days, and seems to be falling away in the electoral race.
Kenyon languishing behind Burnham
Over the last week, Kenyon hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory with his media performances.
Back when this crunch by-election was called, many expected it to be a closer race between Reform and Labour, with Makerfield being a Leave-voting constituency in which Nigel Farage’s party had seen success at May’s local elections.
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But then Kenyon’s old social media posts emerged, including sexist comments about women, anti-abortion views and crass posts about Carol Vorderman. This is before we even get onto his seemingly anti-Brexit stance and somewhat sympathetic views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
So, as the media appearances have ramped up the closer the by-election has got, Kenyon has had plenty of questions to answer about his personal views.
It’s safe to say, he’s done a terrible job of handling the controversy, showing remarkably little remorse for his comments.
This started with a disastrous interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason, before a bumbling appearance on Question Time.
This has led to Reform falling back in the polls in Makerfield, with the bookies continuing to shorten their odds on Andy Burnham to win the by-election.
Despite the practice he’s getting at dealing with the media, Kenyon doesn’t seem to be getting any better at it if his latest one is anything to go by.
‘Another complete car crash’
This week, Kenyon appeared alongside the other main candidates in the Makerfield by-election in a BBC News debate ahead of the vote next Thursday.
Once again, he was challenged over his sexist social media remarks, and once again he had no good answer for his actions.
The Reform candidate claimed his comments were “not an issue coming up on the doorstep” in Makerfield, before denying he was a sexist.
When he said the comments had been made “15 years ago”, he was promptly reminded that many of the posts in question had been made much more recently.
He once again refused to apologise for the comments when he was asked to by Green candidate Sarah Wakefield.
Kenyon claimed he had the female vote in Makerfield, before arguing his party would protect women’s rights by scrapping the Equalities Act.
Reacting to the interview on X, Labour MP Luke Charters said it was “another complete car crash” from Kenyon.
He added: “You can see why Reform rarely lets him anywhere near a microphone. Bad, even by their horrific standards.”
Voters in Makerfield will go to the polls on June 18.