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Reform has come under fire in recent days after a series of sexist social media posts were linked to Robert Kenyon, the party’s chosen candidate to face Andy Burnham in Makerfield
Nigel Farage’s Reform Party has come under fire for its Makerfield candidate’s sexism(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Nigel Farage’s Reform Party has been embroiled in a sexism firestorm after its Makerfield candidate, Robert Kenyon, was accused of making sexist comments on social media.
Kenyon was linked to an account on an online rugby fan forum from the 2010s which stated women presenting games on television “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box”, before admitting: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.” Another account posting on a rugby league forum linked to Kenyon claimed in a post that women who have abortions do so for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want”.
In a series of now-deleted tweets from a Twitter account, he called abortion a “cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby”, and in another suggested women falsely claim to be raped so they can terminate a pregnancy. Reform has explained away the sexist comments as “locker room banter” and those on abortion “a matter of conscience”, leading to questions about Reform and Nigel Farage’s track record on women’s rights.
Speaking about the sexism comments, a spokesperson for the Reform Party said: “These comments, which are little more than locker room banter, were made more than a decade ago – well before Rob was in politics.”
In a follow-up statement regarding his views on abortion, the spokesperson added: “Cllr Kenyon is perfectly entitled to his own personal opinions on abortion. In this country, this issue has always been a matter of conscience, regardless of which party a politician represents.”
Labour has delivered a swift rebuke of the comments, with a spokesperson saying: “Reform are backing a candidate in Makerfield with a proven history of sexism and homophobia. They’re normalising these attitudes, hoping you won’t notice.”
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The comments from Kenyon haven’t helped Reform’s reputation, with Nigel Farage and other candidates having drawn controversy in the past for their controversial comments about women. Farage, a keen Donald Trump ally, famously defended the US President’s notorious “grab them by the p***y” comments as “locker room banter” and “alpha-male boasting” in 2016.
Last year, he prompted outrage when declaring men “are prepared to sacrifice their family lives in order to pursue a career and be successful in a way that fewer women are”.
In March, Reform councillor Peter York, vice chairman of West Northamptonshire Council, allegedly said “some women should have never left the kitchen” during an International Women’s Day event. Following a complaint, the comments were deemed a “likely” breach of the council’s code of conduct.
The council said: “The deputy monitoring officer has considered this complaint at the pre-assessment stage and finds that there is likely to have been a breach of the code of conduct and that it can be adequately dealt with by remedial action.
“The deputy monitoring officer will contact the subject member to arrange civility and respect training as well as to offer words of advice regarding respectful communication.”
