As Reform resists calls to pull support from Robert Kenyon, ex-Deputy PM Angela Rayner tells us: ‘It says all you need to know about Reform that they are allowing this repulsive misogynistic abuse to stand’
Carol Vorderman has demanded an apology from Reform’s by-election candidate as pressure mounts on Nigel Farage’s party to pull its support.
Robert Kenyon is under fire over lewd remarks about the former Countdown star posted on a deleted X account. Carol told The Mirror: “I want an apology from Rob Kenyon, to me, and to all the other people he’s abused online.” Ex-Deputy PM Angela Rayner also told us: “It says all you need to know about Reform that they are allowing this repulsive misogynistic abuse to stand.”
Earlier, Reform MP Danny Kruger described the posts as “inappropriate” but said he should not be removed, claiming they were the “private comments” of “an ordinary man”.
Carol hit back, telling us: “I’m 65, I grew up in North Wales in abject poverty, I spent half of my life living in the North, whether it was Leeds, or Manchester, or that strip of North Wales. And he [Kruger] says Kenyon is just an ordinary man saying ordinary things. No, I’m sorry, Kenyon isn’t an ordinary man. He’s a cowardly man which is why he deleted one of his social media accounts.
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She added: “They are public comments on a public platform and if Danny Kruger thinks online abuse is OK then Reform are therefore stating online abuse against women is OK, then all women in Makerfield need to know that.”
Mr Kenyon was selected last week by Reform to take on Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election June 18. But past comments on his social media accounts have so far overshadowed Reform’s campaign.
Last week, campaigning group HopeNotHate discovered Mr Kenyon had two X accounts, one of which has been suspended by the platform. The other has since been deleted, it said. In 2021, Mr Kenyon responded to an X user who wrote a degrading sexual message about Carol. After another user criticised the remark, the now-Reform candidate pitched in: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking.”
Ex-Labour Cabinet minister Louise Haigh, the political lead of Andy Burnham’s by-election campaign, told The Mirror: “Reform care so little about the people of Makerfield that they clearly didn’t do the most basic vetting on him or his social media history.”
Referring to the posts about Carol, she said: “These disrespectful and sexist posts clearly show he is not fit to be an MP and if Reform had any respect for the people of Makerfield they would remove him as their candidate immediately.”
Mr Kruger was confronted by Today programme presenter Emma Barnett on Monday, who read him the comment. She asked: “Is that the type of better politician you think the British people deserve?” The ex-Tory replied: “What you’re seeing there – I didn’t know about that – is obviously a private comment.”
READ MORE: Carol Vorderman hits out at Reform’s Makerfield candidate for lewd comments
Told it was public, he went on: “Well, let me explain, the great challenge for social media for private people is that they use it as if they are chatting to their friends in the pub – clearly an inappropriate thing to say publicly. I’m not going to judge people for what are essentially regarded at the time and intended as private conversations – clearly that is not the sort of thing you want an elected politician to make. Quite rightly, clearly, he’s deleted that post and regrets it.”
Mr Kruger said: “Like I say, this was clearly something said in a different context. Not an appropriate thing to say publicly, and I am sure he recognises that too.” Asked whether he needed to be removed as Reform’s candidate in Makerfield, he replied: “No I don’t. It is clearly wrong for politicians to talk in that way.
“He was not a politician at the time, he’s an ordinary man, from an ordinary place and what he’s done now is to step forward, outraged at the state of our country…”
Senior Tory MP Alicia Kearns posted on X: “If their candidate thought Twitter replies are private he’s a moron, and the way he speaks about women… speaks for itself.”
Labour Party chair Anna Turley added: “Danny Kruger’s interview tells voters everything they need to know about Reform’s judgement.” She added: “Andy Burnham is the only candidate with the experience, values and determination to stand up for local people and deliver the fresh start this area needs.”
In response to HopeNotHate’s investigation, a Reform UK spokesman said last week: “We fully back Cllr Kenyon. He is an excellent, local candidate who we are confident will be a superb MP for Makerfield. These comments were made before he was in politics. Rob isn’t a polished, professional politician and doesn’t speak like one. That’s precisely why he’ll be a straight-talking, effective voice for normal working people in Makerfield.”