Robert Kenyon has faced increased scrutiny in key by-election race over his online past.
LONDON — Reform UK was aware of the controversial deleted social media accounts of its Makerfield by-election candidate Robert Kenyon before choosing him to stand against Andy Burnham, the party has confirmed.
A series of posts from social media accounts have dominated coverage of Kenyon’s race since his selection last week — including remarks condemned as misogynistic, the resharing of comments by far-right influencers and a claim he did not support Farage’s flagship policy of Brexit.
In a statement to POLITICO a Reform spokesperson said: “Rob declared his accounts during the vetting process as everyone is expected to. The party has fully backed him as our candidate for Makerfield.”
Reform UK has previously made clear it has no plans to investigate Kenyon.
Kenyon, a self-employed plumber and Wigan councillor born in the constituency, has defended himself as an ordinary person who is “rough around the edges.” He told the Sunday Times newspaper he was “a regular, normal bloke and I speak like a normal bloke does,” and claimed “dragging up” comments “puts people off getting involved in politics.”
Reform has defended Kenyon as the “straight‑talking” voice for voters in Makerfield.
But controversy over his online activity has already handed Labour, Reform’s main opposition in Makerfield, its sharpest attack line of the contest.
Labour has previously questioned whether there was a failure of the Reform’s vetting system for its candidates, asking whether “Reform were aware” of Kenyon’s “deeply troubling” online history before selecting him.
Reform’s confirmation that Kenyon disclosed the accounts during vetting indicates the material did not slip through unnoticed.
Controversial posts
One of the accounts run by Kenyon was terminated by social media platform X in 2024. It is not known why Kenyon’s X account was deleted, but campaign group Hope Not Hate published a series of messages it says were sent from the handle.
Screenshots taken by Hope Not Hate show Kenyon interacted with Peter Imanuelsen — known as Peter Sweden on X. Imanuelsen has been accused of minimizing, and outright denying, the Holocaust. He has rejected that characterization of his views.
Deleted posts from Kenyon’s account also include calling abortion a “cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby” and suggesting women falsely claim to have been raped in order to terminate their pregnancies.
The campaign group Searchlight pointed out in 2024, when Kenyon first contested the seat, that he was one of 41 Reform candidates who were friends with Gary Raikes, a former member of the far-right British National Party, on a now-deleted Facebook page.
Reform UK has denied this connection, saying Kenyon had never “spoken or engaged with” Gary Raikes and that when he was made aware of who Raikes was, Kenyon “removed him from his Facebook immediately.”
Broadcaster Carol Vorderman — central to one of Kenyon’s most widely criticized tweets — has demanded he apologize for “disgusting comments” made about her on his former X account. Former Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner accused Kenyon of targeting Vorderman with “misogynistic abuse.”
Since then comments linked to Kenyon made on a rugby league fan forum have come to light, including reports he wrote that he “woke up the day after Brexit shitting myself” about the result, and arguing that campaigners for leaving the EU “peddled nationalistic pish” ahead of the 2016 referendum. Despite the comments, Kenyon told the Telegraph that he had voted for Brexit.
While Reform has confirmed it knew about Kenyon’s social media accounts during vetting, the party has not said whether that disclosure extended to posts on the rugby league forum.
Reform has made clear it is sticking with its candidate, arguing these comments pre‑date Kenyon’s entry into politics. The party, which is topping nationwide polls in the U.K., is framing the contest as a “David versus Goliath” battle against Burnham, whose return to Westminster is widely seen as a platform for a future Labour leadership bid.
The by-election takes place on June 18.