Carol Vorderman has called Robert Kenyon – Reform UK’s candidate to stand against Andy Burnham in the Makerfield byelection – a “disgusting online abuser” and a misogynist, after posts from his deleted social media accounts were published by Hope Not Hate and the Mirror. Kenyon responded to a degrading sexual comment about Vorderman on X by writing “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking.” Reform’s response to the controversy: they fully back their candidate and said his lack of “polish” is precisely what would make him an effective voice for working people.
“Fundamentally, Rob Kenyon is a misogynist,” Vorderman told the Mirror. “I wouldn’t let him in my house if he was a local plumber in my area, not with what he’s been posting online.”
What Kenyon posted
The specific post that drew Vorderman’s response was from 2021. A user had written a degrading sexual message about her. Another user had criticised the remark. Kenyon intervened to side with the original poster: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking.”
There were further posts from the same account about female rugby players and their physical appearance, including comments that Vorderman described as constituting “a torrent of abusive and vile language.” The account had been blocked by the Sky Sports Rugby League page on X specifically for his online behaviour regarding women.
“He’s been talking about how female rugby players ‘handle their knockers’, saying if it’s not ‘tits and arse’,” Vorderman said. “He’d been blocked by the Sky Sports Rugby League Twitter page for his online behaviour.”
The posts are from the second of Kenyon’s two deleted accounts, which Hope Not Hate investigated and published as we reported in our full Kenyon deleted accounts piece. That investigation also revealed COVID conspiracy theories, calls for waterboarding, comparison of Australian vaccination policies to Nazism and a comment directed at Carol Vorderman. The first deleted account contained riot disinformation during the Southport murders, the amplification of far-right figures and the use of three children’s deaths as a Reform recruitment pitch, as Byline Times reported.
Vorderman on the wider pattern
Vorderman drew specific attention to the consent question as well as the content. “Nobody knows why his X account was suspended. X has a very low bar for suspension, and the public should know and Reform should tell us why his account was suspended. What were his actions for this to have happened?”
She also situateed Kenyon’s posts in the context of Reform UK’s broader record on women’s safety. “It’s yet another pattern of Reform. Let’s not forget that Nigel Farage has been photographed with Andrew Tate, he described Tate as an ‘important voice’ for young men.”
Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist facing rape, human trafficking and organised crime charges in Romania. He has hundreds of millions of followers online and has been described as having a specific radicalising influence on young men.
Vorderman continued: “If anyone’s seriously thinking that Reform stands for the safety of women, then please think again. They stand for reducing women’s rights and safety. They’ve already stated they would abolish the Equality Act, which would scrap protections against workplace discrimination, equal pay rights, maternity leave.”
She also raised the case of James McMurdock, the Reform MP elected in 2024. “Reform did not disclose the conviction of one of their 2024 MPs, James McMurdock. After the election McMurdock turned out to have a conviction for assaulting his then-girlfriend in 2006.” The conviction was not declared during the election campaign.
The Victims Commissioner’s position is directly relevant to the argument Vorderman was making: “misogyny normalises violence against women and girls, normalises illegal harms such as harassment, abuse and stalking. And these harms manifest in both online and offline spaces.”
Reform’s response – “no polish”
Reform’s formal response to the controversy was to back Kenyon entirely. “We fully back Cllr Kenyon. He is an excellent, local candidate who we are confident will be a superb MP for Makerfield. These comments were made before he was in politics. Rob isn’t a polished, professional politician and doesn’t speak like one. That’s precisely why he’ll be a straight-talking, effective voice for normal working people in Makerfield.”
The specific framing – that the absence of “polish” is a qualification rather than a disqualification – is the argument Reform routinely makes about candidates and elected representatives whose conduct attracts criticism. As we reported in our tracker of 99 Reform councillors who have been kicked out, resigned or defected, the party has deployed versions of the same argument in response to a Worcestershire councillor who publicly attacked Farage, a St Helens councillor whose adult content platform attracted attention, and multiple cases involving Islamophobic and racist posts.
Vorderman’s response to Reform’s “no polish” defence was direct. “So basically, it doesn’t matter how misogynistic or otherwise he has been as far as Reform are concerned. And they didn’t care that their MP James McMurdock had been put in jail for kicking his girlfriend outside a nightclub and that it hadn’t been declared. They simply don’t care at all.”
The byelection context
Kenyon was announced as Reform’s candidate against Burnham in the most consequential byelection of the parliament, as we reported in our Makerfield byelection analysis. Since his announcement, he has faced questions about Facebook connections to a neo-fascist leader, two deleted social media accounts containing riot disinformation and calls for waterboarding, and now Vorderman’s public response to his comments about women.
His Makerfield campaign also made headlines this week when the Hamlet Wigan CIC – a community café supporting young adults with additional needs – demanded a formal apology from Farage after Kenyon was part of the team that arrived unannounced during a Duke of Edinburgh awards celebration, as we reported in our Hamlet Wigan café piece.
Labour’s response to the Vorderman story was direct. “Robert Kenyon’s comments online are disgusting and show that he’s not fit to represent Makerfield. From creepy remarks about women, to peddling baseless conspiracy theories, this is appalling stuff from a parliamentary candidate – on top of being Facebook friends with a fascist campaigner. Nigel Farage needs to explain why Reform UK selected him in the first place.”
Farage has not answered that question. As we reported in our Channel 4 getaway piece, the Reform leader has been declining to answer journalists’ questions in the Makerfield constituency itself.
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