Robert Kenyon, Reform’s candidate in the upcoming Makerfield by-election, has been humbled by Chris Mason in a car crash interview.
After Reform announced Kenyon as their candidate for the by-election, it transpired that he had posted some fairly awful sentiments about women online.
The plumber, who had deleted all his previous social media accounts before his unveiling, also appeared to have shared anti-Brexit and pro-Russia posts.
With every new post unearthed by the media, it has brought into question even more whether Reform have any semblance of a vetting process when choosing their candidates.
Meanwhile, many are saying the posts are proof Kenyon isn’t fit to serve in parliament as an MP.
For anyone still in any doubt about this though, take a look at this interview Kenyon did with the BBC’s Chris Mason.
Mason started out by asking Kenyon about his thoughts on Russia’s annexation of Crimea, something he had previously said Russia was ‘well within its rights’ to do.
Kenyon said he had changed his mind on this one.
He was then asked about his thoughts on Brexit, with Kenyon having posted that the Leave campaign ‘peddled nationalistic pish.’
Kenyon swore ‘hand on heart’ that he had voted Leave in the referendum, contradicting something he said in another of his old posts.
From there, it only got worse for Kenyon, who claimed he didn’t even know what ‘nationalistic pish’ means.
Mason challenged Kenyon over posts voicing anti-vaccine views, comments about Carol Vorderman and degrading posts about women, leaving the Wigan councillor squirming.
Reacting to the interview online, one person said it “might be the worst performance from a political candidate I have ever seen in my life.”
Labour MP Luke Charters labelled it the “worst political interview in history.”
And political commentator Don McGowan said Kenyon’s attempts to mould himself as a ‘man of the people’ like Farage weren’t working.
He wrote: “He was clearly preloaded with the questions and told what to say, but still managed to bungle it at every opportunity.
“Drinking pints in pubs and telling the BBC that most folk swear just isn’t a high enough benchmark for a role in Parliament representing his constituents.”