Robert Kenyon #

Introduction #

Robert Kenyon is a British plumber and Reform UK politician — a Wigan councillor for the Bryn with Ashton-in-Makerfield North ward — who was chosen as the party’s candidate for the Makerfield parliamentary by-election of June 2026, and whose campaign was overwhelmed by the emergence of sexist and far-right social media history, including graphic since-deleted remarks about TV presenter Carol Vorderman, that surfaced days into the race. His X account was suspended during the campaign as his links to fascist and far-right figures were documented, Reform suspended him over racism allegations, and on 18 June 2026 he lost the by-election to Labour’s Andy Burnham by a landslide, with Farage publicly admitting the result was a “dramatic, emphatic” disappointment.

Background Information #

Kenyon is a plumber in the Wigan area and an elected Wigan councillor for the Bryn with Ashton-in-Makerfield North ward, who had already stood in Makerfield at the 2024 general election, coming second. When Reform UK selected him for the parliamentary by-election triggered in Makerfield — a Greater Manchester seat considered demographically favourable to the party — the hope was a tightly fought race that would crown its northern-England momentum, with Farage campaigning alongside his candidate and the party targeting at least 18,000 votes. At that 2024 campaign the anti-fascist group Searchlight had already flagged his social-media friendship with Gary Raikes, leader of the New British Union, a reincarnation of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists — a warning the party’s vetting did not act on.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Days after Kenyon’s selection was announced, his X account, @Makerfield_RFK, was suspended; immediately afterwards the reasons began to surface — his links to fascist figures and his sharing of extremist right-wing content, documented by the Skwawkbox investigation published via The Canary. His archived posts included denial that the far right even exists, made while far-right rioters filled streets during the 2024 Southport disorder, and a claim that white people were being “assaulted en masse” by Muslims; he had also shared and contributed to posts by far-right figures including Carl Benjamin (“Sargon of Akkad”), white supremacist Peter Imanuelsen and convicted race-hate instigator Wayne O’Rourke. Byline Times’ analysis of 419 archived tweets from his first deleted account, and Hope Not Hate’s uncovering of a second deleted account, revealed what The Daily Britain summarised as “a sustained pattern of riot disinformation during the Southport murders, false claims about local crime and immigration, COVID conspiracy theories, the objectification of women, and explicit calls for violence including waterboarding and hanging”. The Mirror reported that Reform suspended him over racism allegations, including a claim he allegedly wrote that he “wouldn’t touch a Jewish woman”, even as he continued appearing on the campaign trail. The defining moment came when TV presenter Carol Vorderman posted a video demanding an apology from Kenyon after it emerged he had joined in a graphic discussion about her in the since-deleted posts; he refused to apologise, and fact-checkers catalogued his comments that women “can’t drive” and get abortions for “vanity purposes” or “so they can shag anyone they want”.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Kenyon was suspended by Reform UK over the racism and sexism allegations during the campaign, though he remained the party’s named candidate on the ballot — a contradiction highlighted repeatedly by opponents. He appeared on the BBC’s Question Time, where a studio audience member roasted him over the sexist comments read out to him, and refused again to apologise. On 18 June 2026 he lost to Andy Burnham, who took 55% of the vote to Reform’s 15,696 votes — a result Farage called “a dramatic, emphatic win” and admitted fell far short of the party’s target, after canvassers from all parties reported that voters, women in particular, said the posts had put them off. Reform sources told the Guardian the party’s own examination would ask whether the sexist comments had cost it the seat; one activist said the party had advised Kenyon not to apologise — “That’s something that was not his fault, it was how he was advised” — while a Reform source conceded “I will admit that the Vorderman stuff did not help us”.

Current Status #

Kenyon lost the Makerfield by-election and remained suspended from Reform UK over the racism allegations, per the Mirror’s campaign reporting; no reinstatement has been reported, and Reform’s post-mortem examined whether the sexism had cost it a seat it had publicly targeted. He continues to hold his Wigan council seat for Bryn with Ashton-in-Makerfield North, where his council role survived the scandal even as his parliamentary ambitions did not. His parliamentary run is over. He has never apologised for or denied writing the posts, instead presenting them as evidence he is an ordinary bloke — an account his own party’s post-mortem did not endorse. No criminal proceedings arising from the posts have been reported; the consequences were political — a suspension, a national humiliation at the polls, and the end of his candidacy.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Kenyon’s by-election became the cautionary tale of Reform’s 2026 candidate selection: a seat the party had publicly targeted slipped away because the candidate’s deleted accounts, suspended X profile, and resurfaced sexism could not be spun away on doorsteps, with Farage reduced to urging voters to treat the result as a lesson. The Guardian recorded that Reform’s internal review would formally examine whether his posts cost it the seat — an unusual public admission that a candidate’s conduct had become the story of a parliamentary race. For Kenyon, a plumber elevated to parliamentary candidate in a winnable seat, the posts he declined to apologise for converted a career-high opportunity into a landslide defeat and a suspension that ended his run before it finished counting.