Carol Vorderman Allegations Leave Reform Backing Robert Kenyon
Reform UK has said it still fully backs carol vorderman-linked Makerfield by-election candidate Robert Kenyon after allegations over offensive posts from a deleted X account. The party says it has no plans to investigate him, even as the row broadens to include questions about a separate X account that was terminated in 2024.
Kenyon and the deleted account
Hope Not Hate published details of posts from an X account that has now been deleted, saying the material included sexist, violent and homophobic messages. The posts also allegedly included graphic sexual and sexist language about Carol Vorderman and a slur directed at Labour party members, putting Kenyon’s online record under scrutiny days after his by-election announcement.
A Reform UK spokesperson said the party fully backs Robert Kenyon and said the comments were made before he was in politics. The same response framed him as a local candidate rather than a polished national figure, with the party telling News: “we fully back Councillor Kenyon. He is an excellent, local candidate who we are confident will be a superb MP for Makerfield.”
Far-right links and Labour attack
Kenyon is also alleged to have interacted with Peter Imanuelsen and appeared to support a Covid lockdown conspiracy theory, while another claim says he compared Australian Covid vaccination policies to Nazism. He was reported to have posted that businessmen including Richard Branson should be hanged for accepting furlough money during the pandemic, sharpening the contrast between a local campaign launch and the online material now attached to it.
Searchlight added another layer by claiming Kenyon was friends with three far-right organisers on a now-deleted Facebook page. Reform UK said that page was used for political campaigning, was a conventional Facebook page, and was removed after Kenyon was elected as a local councillor earlier this month; the party said it concluded he should have a public facing profile once he was elected to public office.
Makerfield candidate pressure
A Labour party spokesperson called the comments “disgusting” and said “he's not fit to represent Makerfield.” The same spokesperson added: “From creepy remarks about women, to peddling baseless conspiracy theories, this is appalling stuff from a parliamentary candidate.”
The harder problem for Reform is not the deleted account alone but the pattern around it: a candidate announced earlier this week, a separate X account owned by him terminated in 2024, and a party line that stops short of any internal inquiry. That leaves Kenyon’s online history as a live campaign issue in Makerfield, and the party’s selection judgment is now part of the election argument.
