Reform UK is examining whether sexist comments by its candidate in the Makerfield byelection may have harmed the party’s chances, after Nigel Farage admitted the result was ‘disappointing’. The party had hoped for a tightly fought battle with Labour’s Andy Burnham, but Burnham won 55% of the vote, leaving Reform’s Robert Kenyon more than 9,000 votes behind.
Canvassers from different parties reported that voters highlighted sexist and lewd social media posts by Kenyon, which emerged during the campaign, with women in particular saying they were put off by them. The issue gained prominence when TV presenter Carol Vorderman demanded an apology from Kenyon after he joined a graphic discussion about her in since-deleted posts.
One Reform activist said the party had advised Kenyon not to apologise for the comments. ‘That’s something that was not his fault, it was how he was advised,’ they said. Another Reform source admitted: ‘I will admit that the Vorderman stuff did not help us.’
Despite the setback, Farage urged voters who backed Rupert Lowe’s far-right Restore UK (which took under 7% of the vote) to switch to Reform, calling it ‘the only viable contender on the right of UK politics’. He acknowledged Burnham’s victory was ‘dramatic and emphatic’ but insisted Reform remains ‘the big national party on the centre right’.
Reform had hoped to win at least 18,000 votes but achieved 15,696. Farage said the party was ‘slightly hoist with our own petard’ as Burnham’s implicit message—that a vote for him was a vote to remove Keir Starmer—mirrored Reform’s own slogan. Burnham’s personal standing in Greater Manchester and Kenyon’s comments were seen as key factors.
Farage ended his message: ‘A disappointing morning, but we keep going.’ The party is now facing pressure from Restore UK’s hard-right rhetoric, which has nudged Reform towards more nativist policies, including targeting EU nationals with settled status in proposed migration reforms.
