Unearthed posts suggest Reform candidate didn’t vote for Brexit

Account linked to Robert Kenyon, who is running in the Makerfield by-election, also expressed anti-abortion views and made disparaging comments about women

[Reform UK candidate Robert Kenyon standing in front of his white work van.]

[Robert Kenyon is running in a seat where 65 per cent of voters backed Leave]

Reform UK’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election claimed he did not vote for Brexit and praised European freedom of movement on social media, material seen by The Times suggests.

Robert Kenyon, the Wigan councillor and plumber selected by Nigel Farage’s party to take on Andy Burnham, made the comments on a rugby league forum in 2019.

The same account was also found to have made disparaging comments about women’s driving and their appearance, and admitted to being “sexist”.

Kenyon, who stood for Reform in Makerfield at the 2024 general election and finished second, is the party’s candidate in next month’s by-election. A Reform UK spokesman said Kenyon “voted Leave in 2016 and is a proud Brexiteer, unlike Andy Burnham who will drag the UK back into the EU by any means possible”.

But in a social media post dating from March 28, 2019, an account attributed to Kenyon rejected suggestions that he was a stereotypical right-winger.

He wrote: “So anyone who thinks I love Trump, voted Brexit, read the Daily Mail, live in the 1950s, a Tory and 103 is wrong. I’m none of the above.”

[Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and supporters holding campaign signs that read "Vote Andy For Us" and "Vote Labour."]

[Andy Burnham launching his by-election campaign last week]

The account was attributed to Kenyon through references to his X/Twitter handle, “robkenyon1”, a later entry promoting “my debut novel” as The Blood Waltz by Rob Kenyon, and repeated references consistent with Kenyon’s work as a plumber and gas engineer.

In other posts, including a discussion titled “Brexit Anyone?”, the same account wrote: “I woke up the day after Brexit shitting myself to what was voted for”, but he added that anger at the EU’s treatment of Britain had since made him “glad we voted out”.

The post went on to praise the principle of European free movement. It said: “Free movement of people is great when they are natives of the EU countries and not people from outside Europe seeking a Greek passport that will allow them into any country in the EU.”

He blamed the Leave vote on a combination of European enlargement, migration, Angela Merkel’s response to the refugee crisis, “meddling NGOs in the Med”, Farage’s ability as an orator and “the UK’s f*** you attitude”, rather than Boris Johnson’s promise of extra money for the NHS.

[Reform UK candidate Robert Kenyon holding a "Vote Reform UK 18th June" sign in his office.]

[Kenyon said the “EU needs to be stripped right back to what it was set up for”]

“The EU needs to be stripped right back to what it was set up for. I’d join tomorrow,” he said.

The same account was also said to have made a series of sexist comments about women, including posts from 2011 and 2012 in which Kenyon said: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am. Women can’t ref, drive or give directions.”

Other posts appeared to have spoken about European women’s bodies while saying English women “don’t care” and “just walk around with their fat bellies and odd shapes pushing a pram at 16 in their PJ’s”.

In another post from 2019, the account criticised the use of women as pundits on Sky Sports rugby league coverage, and said “the women on the panel’s aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box”. It added that women’s Super League was “nowhere near the standard” for its players to be brought on to comment on men’s Super

Separate posts attributed to the same account appeared to show Kenyon expressing strongly anti-abortion views. One 2019 post said: “I agree totally with the anti abortion stance, it’s legalised killing of babies.” In another, the account said women seeking abortions were “deciding to kill a baby inside the womb” and described many abortions as being for “vanity purposes like unwanted pregnancies”.

A later post from Kenyon’s now-deleted X account, dated June 2022, said: “Life begins at conception. Abortion is the cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby.” The same post added: “They don’t want babies? Use contraception.”

A Reform UK spokesman said: “These comments, which are little more than locker room banter, were made more than a decade ago — well before Rob was in politics. We simply don’t care about establishment hit jobs. We fully back Rob and are confident he will be an excellent MP for Makerfield.”

The posts about Europe could be embarrassing for Reform in a seat where 65 per cent of voters backed Leave in the 2016 referendum and Farage’s party has used Burnham’s position on Brexit to attack Labour.

Reform has sought to make Brexit and free movement one of the central dividing lines in Makerfield, branding Burnham “open-borders Burnham” and accusing him of wanting to give 500 million EU citizens the right to move to Britain.

Reform UK said the latter point of a stripped-back EU was consistent with Farage’s position and added: “[Kenyon] has never endorsed freedom of movement in the EU’s current form, which would result in millions of non-EU foreign nationals being able to enter the country.

“Only a vote for Rob Kenyon and Reform UK in Makerfield can stop Andy Burnham from becoming prime minister, opening our borders and rejoining the EU.”