Reform UK’s candidate for the upcoming Makerfield by-election is facing scrutiny over his apparent support for the far-right on social media.
This week, Robert Kenyon was announced as Reform’s candidate for the crunch by-election, which is expected to be a two-horse race between the right-wing party and Labour’s Andy Burnham.
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However, it wasn’t long after Kenyon’s unveiling that people noticed his account on X had been suspended for violating the Elon Musk-owned platform’s rules.
This was highlighted in one post by the Conservative Campaign HQ.
Archived posts have since been uncovered in which Kenyon appears to show his support for far-right figures.
Kenyon shared posts from far-right personality Carl Benjamin during the Southport riots in 2024 and also shared a post from Wayne O’Rourke, who was jailed for three years for sharing misinformation and stirring up racial hatred online in the wake of the Southport stabbings.
Byline Times reports that these posts were part of a pattern on “intense activity” following the knife attack in which three children were murdered.
The Metro reports that Kenyon also responded to a Home Office tweet which read: “If you engage in violent protests, you will face the full force of the law.”
Kenyon replied: “Is it a hate crime for Asian men walk round in Birmingham assaulting white people en masse [sic]?”.
In a separate post responding to Novara Media editor Ash Sarkar, Kenyon claimed Britain “didn’t colonise India.”
Another post saw him call for the King to “open up his palaces and grounds for the asylum seekers.”
Away from X, Kenyon is also facing questions over his Facebook account, where he had been friends with former British National Party organiser Gary Raikes.
Raikes is currently the leader of neo-fascist group the New British Union, which describes itself as a revival of Oswald Mosley’s Union of Fascists.
Two years ago, online publication Searchlight had revealed Kenyon’s online friendship with Raikes. Kenyon did not respond to their questions.
Kenyon has since removed Raikes as a Facebook friend, explaining in a post on May 14 that he was “moth balling” the account so “have removed all my friends on there.”
Writing on X, journalist Michael Crick asked: “Is Reform’s vetting of candidates non-existent, or don’t they care?”.