Nigel Farage has responded to questions about his Makerfield byelection candidate’s sexist and misogynistic social media posts with the words “so what?” – describing Robert Kenyon as “an ordinary bloke” who “said a few laddish things on social media 10 years ago” and suggesting the comments were “the kind you’ll hear in every pub in the country every evening.” Carol Vorderman, who is still waiting for an apology, called Kenyon a misogynist. Kenyon has declined to apologise on Question Time, on the BBC Makerfield debate and in multiple other public settings.
The comments at issue include Kenyon saying women “can’t ref, drive or give instructions,” that women presenting rugby games on TV “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box,” and – most directly – “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.” He also replied “he’s only saying what we’re all thinking” with a thumbs up and laughing emoji to a comment addressed to Carol Vorderman wishing she could “smell and lick” her arsehole. The i Paper revealed 2019 comments in which Kenyon said women who have abortions get them for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want.”
Farage’s response, asked about these posts at a campaign event on Tuesday: “So what?”
What Farage said
The full quote is worth setting out in full because it is a significant political statement from a party leader about his own candidate’s record.
“They’ve been taken wildly out of context, but they’re the sort of comments that you won’t necessarily get if you’re an Oxford-educated career politician living in a nice postcode in London. But I tell you what, they are the kind of comments you’ll hear in every pub in the country every evening, and we should be unapologetic that Rob is an ordinary bloke who’s carved quite a career for himself, had the guts to set up a business, served as an army reservist, is a patriot, likes his rugby, likes the odd pint, and said a few laddish things on social media 10 years ago.”
“Do you know what I’d say to that? I’d say, so what?”
Several things about this are worth examining. First, “taken wildly out of context” – the context of “I’m sexist, sorry but I am” is a direct first-person declaration. The context of “he’s only saying what we’re all thinking” in response to a graphic sexual comment about Carol Vorderman is a direct endorsement. Neither of these requires context to understand.
Second, “you’ll hear in every pub in the country every evening” – this is Farage’s actual argument. Not that the comments were wrong. Not that Kenyon should apologise. But that the sentiments expressed are so normal and widespread that the only people who object are Oxford-educated career politicians who don’t go to the right pubs.
Third: the framing of Kenyon as “ordinary bloke” versus the implicit “career politician” is the specific political argument Farage has built his entire career on. The problem with applying it to Kenyon is that the comments in question are not about political grievances or establishment frustration. They are about women.
The record – and what’s not 10 years old
Farage’s claim that the comments were “posted a decade ago” is worth checking. The comment about smelling and licking Carol Vorderman’s arsehole, which Kenyon endorsed with a thumbs up and “he’s only saying what we’re all thinking,” was posted in 2021 – not ten years ago. Five years ago. When Kenyon was an adult in his thirties.
The abortion comments – that women have abortions for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want” – were from 2019. Seven years ago. Still not a decade.
The comments that women “can’t ref, drive or give instructions” and are “only there to tick a box” when presenting rugby: not confirmed as a decade old.
As we reported in our Kenyon MEN interview piece, the rugby forum comments where Kenyon called himself sexist date to around that period. On Question Time, when he claimed they were “15 years ago on a rugby forum,” the host corrected him. They were not 15 years ago.
Additional comments that have also emerged include Kenyon saying Russia was “within its rights” to annex Crimea in 2014, and telling England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty to “fuck right off” for urging people to get a Covid booster.
Vorderman – and the apology that hasn’t come
As we reported in our Vorderman open letter piece, Carol Vorderman sent an open letter to more than 6,000 female voters in Makerfield calling Kenyon a “little coward” and detailing a pattern of online behaviour. She told the Daily Mirror she wanted an apology “to me, and to all the other people he’s abused online.”
On BBC Question Time, a Green candidate asked Kenyon to look down the camera and apologise directly. He said he had “commented on a comment.” Host Fiona Bruce asked: “With approval?” He called it “a crass joke.” As we reported in our BBC Makerfield debate piece, he was asked again in the debate and said he was “moving on.”
The apology has not come. Farage’s “so what?” is the most explicit statement yet that it will not.
What this means for June 18
As we reported in our Makerfield odds piece, the bookmakers moved Reform’s odds from 5/2 to 4/1 within 72 hours of Kenyon’s Question Time appearance. The Survation poll shows Burnham at 49% to Reform’s 39%. Restore Britain are at 8% and splitting the right-wing vote.
Farage’s “so what?” will generate significant coverage in the final days of the campaign. Whether it helps or hurts depends on which version of his theory is correct: that the voters of Makerfield identify with “an ordinary bloke who said laddish things,” or that the candidate’s audience – which includes the 6,000 women Vorderman wrote to directly – might feel differently.
An audience member at Question Time already delivered a verdict: “I’d rather have a career politician than a sexist plumber.”
Farage’s answer to that, it turns out, is: so what?
You can watch the clip below:
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