Reform says it won't investigate by-election candidate over social media allegations
Reform UKReform UK says it has no plans to investigate its candidate for the Makerfield by-election after allegations an X social media account of his contained a number of offensive posts.
The anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate published details of social media posts from the X account, which has now been deleted, that show sexist, violent and homophobic messages.
A spokesperson for the party said they "fully back" Robert Kenyon and added that the "comments were made before he was in politics".
The party is also facing questions about why a separate X account owned by Kenyon was terminated by the social media company in 2024.
It is not known why Kenyon's X account was deleted, but campaign group Hope Not Hate published a series of messages it says were sent from the handle.
They include graphic sexual and sexist language, including about the presenter Carol Vorderman, and a slur to describe members of the Labour party.
It's alleged he interacted with a well-known far-right influencer, Peter Imanuelsen, appearing to support a Covid lockdown conspiracy theory.
He allegedly compared Australian Covid vaccination policies to Nazism and is reported to have posted that businessmen including Richard Branson should be hanged for accepting furlough money during the pandemic.
A Labour party spokesperson called the comments "disgusting" and said they show "he's not fit to represent Makerfield".
"From creepy remarks about women, to peddling baseless conspiracy theories, this is appalling stuff from a parliamentary candidate.
"Nigel Farage needs to explain why Reform UK selected him in the first place," they added.
A spokesperson for Reform UK said "we fully back Councillor 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."
Concerns about Kenyon's use of social media first emerged after he was announced as Reform UK's candidate for the Makerfield by-election earlier this week.
The anti-fascist campaign group Searchlight claimed he was friends with three far-right organisers on a now-deleted Facebook page, including fascist campaigner Gary Raikes.
Reform UK said the page was used for political campaigning, and was removed after he was elected as a local councillor earlier this month.
They said the now-deleted page was a conventional Facebook page, and that they concluded he should have a public facing profile once he was elected to public office.
They added that Raikes and Kenyon hadn't been in contact and being a Facebook friend "does not constitute an endorsement of his views".
Separately, X have not yet disclosed exactly why another account of Kenyon's was suspended by the platform.
A statement on his former page said it had been suspended for violating the social media site's rules.
The candidates so far standing in the Makerfield by-election which takes place on 18 June:
