Reform’s ‘Mr Makerfield’ candidate truly grew up in Merseyside, neighbour fumes
Reform UK has come under fire after saying Robert Kenyon was ‘born and bred’ in Makerfield, despite records showing he lived and went to primary school in Merseyside
A former neighbour of Robert Kenyon said he was ‘irked’ by Reform’s (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Reform’s Makerfield by-election candidate has come under fire after it emerged he grew up and went to primary school in Merseyside – despite the party saying he was “born and bred” in the constituency.
A former neighbour of Robert Kenyon said he was “irked” by the claim, when in fact he had lived in the village of Haydock, in the St Helens North constituency. Electoral roll records uncovered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found Mr Kenyon was registered to vote at the family home on the Grange Valley estate in Haydock between 2006 and 2014.
Outgoing Makerfield MP Josh Simons – who announced he was stepping down earlier this month to pave the way for Andy Burnham – told The Mirror: “Don’t trust Robert Kenyon. He is not a man of his word.
“Kenyon calls himself Mr Makerfield. Turns out, he grew up in Merseyside. He raves about being straight talking, but hides from the press and reads from a script. He claims to ‘protect our women’, but he routinely disrespects and degrades women.”
On Wednesday Mr Kenyon, a recently-elected councillor at Wigan Council, did not attend the first full council meeting since this month’s local election, sending his apologies. Mr Simons said: “He couldn’t even be bothered to turn up to his first Council meeting.
“Robert Kenyon is an angry, bitter man.”
It is understood that Mr Kenyon attended English Martyrs Catholic Primary School in Haydock, the Manchester Evening News reports. The school is within the St Helens constituency adjacent to Makerfield.
Campaign literature announcing Mr Kenyon’s bid for parliament said he was “born and bred in Makerfield where he is self-employed as a local plumber”. A former neighbour, who lived ‘a couple of streets away’ in Haydock, told the MEN: “Robert Kenyon and his, let’s say, handlers are making quite a play of him being a Makerfield lad born and bred.
He went on: “I know for a fact that he didn’t grow up within the Makerfield constituency. He grew up in Haydock. This characterising himself as a Makerfield lad born and bred is quite grating.
“To be clear, I would have no issue with a Haydock lad moving to Ashton as an adult and standing for the constituency.
“Surely wouldn’t be an issue to say I grew up in Haydock down the road but I’ve lived here for many years and this is my home?”
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Rob was born and schooled in Makerfield. He was born in Billinge Hospital, attended St Edmund Arrowsmith High School, lived here for the past 13 years, and runs his local business ‘Makerfield Heating’.
“For Josh Simmons, who was parachuted into Makerfield from Cambridge, to attack Rob for not being local is the height of irony, particularly given their current candidate was also dropped in from outside the area.”
And the party told the MEN: “Given he spent most of his formative years here while attending school and visiting his family I think it’s more than fair to say he was ‘bred’ here.”
He has come under fire over his previous social media comments, including agreeing with a lewd comment about former Countdown star Carol Vorderman. She has demanded an apology, but Mr Kenyon told the MEN: “I am rough around the edges. I have made mistakes in my life. I’m not perfect. Nobody is. Not a single person in the world is perfect. I think everybody does say things that eventually they regret. It was a crude attempt at a joke to probably about 50 followers. No offence was meant, and it’s not something I’d do now.”
Asked directly if he would like to take the opportunity to apologise, Mr Kenyon said: “I think I’ve addressed the issue. I think that no offence was meant and it wasn’t a direct comment to her. If you go into any building site in the area or any public barracks, I think you’d hear a hundred times worse said. It was just, like I said, a crass attempt at a joke and it’s not something I’d make now.”
