Under-fire Reform by-election candidate accused of homophobia over ‘poisonous’ posts
Robert Kenyon, who is standing against Labour’s Andy Burnham in Makerfield, allegedly made the remarks on archived posts on a now-defunct rugby league discussion forum, RLFans
Reform candidate in the Makerfield by-election Robert Kenyon
Reform’s by-election candidate is facing accusations of homophobia after an account linked to him made remarks about “poofs” and gay men “mincing about” on TV.
Robert Kenyon, who is standing against Labour’s Andy Burnham in Makerfield, allegedly made the remarks on archived posts on a now-defunct rugby league discussion forum, RLFans.
The candidate – already under the spotlight over claims of misogyny – has been linked to an account on the platform under the username ‘post’. Entries have made reference to Mr Kenyon’s now-deleted X handle @robkenyon1 and also promotes Mr Kenyon’s “debut novel”, the Blood Waltz.
In 2009, one of the posts from the account sent to The Mirror, said: “You can’t call her ‘The Queen’ anymore because it offends the poofs.”
The following year a post on the account stated: “People who want to make a stand for homosexuals need not combat the throwaway comments of a sportsman on twitter but need to do something about the way homosexuals are perceived in the mainstream media, for instance having Julian Clarey [sic], Graham Norton, 4 poofs and a piano and Paul O’Grady mincing about on TV does a lot more damage to the reputation of homosexuals and causes greater insult in my opinion.”
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In another post in January 2020 appeared to respond to Wigan Warriors announcing one of their matches would include a ‘Pride Day’ celebration. It said: “This isn’t a workplace whereby everybody is a free thinking adult, this is a rugby club where many of the fans are children with impressionable minds and the shouldn’t have the issue thrown in their faces, it’s up to the parents to teach it to them if and when they see fit.”
A post the same year added: “If LGBT just want acceptance then stop making a big song and dance about it, attention seeking and taking over other events because that’s turning people against you”.
Labour chair Anna Turley told The Mirror: “Robert Kenyon’s mask has well and truly slipped. Nigel Farage needs to urgently explain why he thinks someone who’s made homophobic and divisive comments like these is fit to represent the people of Makerfield. This is the kind of toxic division the public has come to expect from Reform UK. They’re hell bent on driving a wedge between communities rather than bringing people together.”
But a Reform UK spokesman told The Mirror: “Many of these comments were made nearly 20 years 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.”
In recent days Nigel Farage’s Reform has also dismissed calls to pull support from their candidate in the high-stakes Makerfield by-election over past social media posts. They include lewd remarks about the former Countdown star Carol Vorderman, who this week demanded an apology from Mr Kenyon over remarks on a deleted X account. Carol told us on Monday: “I want an apology from Rob Kenyon, to me, and to all the other people he’s abused online.”
READ MORE: LIZZY BUCHAN: ‘Reform show their true colours over ‘misogynist’ Carol Vorderman post’
Mr Kenyon is also under fire over separate alleged remarks made on the rugby league forum, including claiming women have abortions for “vanity purposes”. Tweets sent by the ‘post’ account accused women of taking any decision to have an abortion lightly, in a later post on the same 2019 discussion thread.
According to the i newspaper, he allegedly wrote: “Reproductive rights? Women’s rights? They can dress it up all they want they are deciding to kill a baby inside the womb. … What they mean is they want to shag anyone they want and if they get caught they get a second chance and treat is as a secondary last chance form of contraception. They ain’t kidding anyone”.
Later on the same topic, ‘post’ added: “I’d hazard a guess that the majority [of abortions] are for vanity purposes like unwanted pregnancies.”
Mr Kenyon has also been forced to say he did vote to leave the EU in the Brexit referendum, after the Times reported on posts from the same account.
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Rob 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. He 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.
