Carol Vorderman has demanded an apology from the Reform UK candidate in the upcoming Makerfield byelection, Robert Kenyon, for what she described as “disgusting comments” he made about her on social media. The broadcaster and former Countdown star called Kenyon a “cowardly man” for a series of offensive posts that have since been deleted, along with his account.
In 2021, Kenyon responded to a social media post about Vorderman in which another user wrote: “My god I’d love to smell and lick your arsehole”, by saying: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking”. Vorderman told the Daily Mirror on Tuesday that she wanted “an apology from Rob Kenyon, to me, and to all the other people he’s abused online”.
Danny Kruger, who joined Reform last September, defended Kenyon’s comments, telling BBC Radio 4 on Monday that while they were “inappropriate”, they were not viewed as serious enough within the party for Kenyon to be pulled as their byelection candidate. Kruger said he was “not going to judge people for what are essentially regarded at the time and intended as private conversations”.
Vorderman dismissed Kruger’s response, saying that being an “ordinary man” was no excuse and the fact that Kenyon’s posts were made publicly meant they should be considered as online abuse. “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,” she said.
Further comments from Kenyon have been found on other social media sites, including posts made on a rugby league forum in 2019. Posts unearthed by the I Paper found that Kenyon had claimed that women who have abortions get them for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want”, while a separate investigation by the Independent found that Kenyon had posted that women can’t “ref, drive or give directions”, that women presenting rugby games on TV “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box” and that he had declared: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.”
A Reform spokesperson said: “These comments were made before Cllr Kenyon entered politics. Rob is perfectly entitled to his own personal opinions on abortion. … 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.”
