Robert Kenyon is feeling the glare of the media spotlight – and not just because he is at the sharp end of Britain’s most hotly-contested by-election. He would like to talk about why a local man, born in Makerfield, is the best person for the job.
Instead, national coverage has focussed on comments Mr Kenyon made on social media before he was selected as Reform UK’s candidate. Branded misogynistic, among other things, he has not responded directly. Until now.
But it’s not exactly a full-throated apology that comes when we meet at Reform’s Makerfield HQ on an industrial estate in Goose Green. In fact, there is no apology at all.
Instead, Mr Kenyon, 41, says everybody does things they ‘regret’ and admits “I’m not a polished politician”. That’s a line Reform have been putting out as they back their ‘white van man’ to the hilt.
Broadcaster Carol Vorderman – central to one of Mr Kenyon’s most widely criticised tweets – has demanded he apologises for “disgusting comments” made about her on his former X account.
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On Christmas Eve 2021, one user replied to the former Countdown star on her X account: “Happy birthday, Carol. My god, I would love to smell and lick your a*******.”
That comment was retweeted by a user who commented: “If you’re prepared to put this on a public forum, I would suggest that your computer drive probably needs checking. @Twitter??” To which Mr Kenyon replied: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking Chris”, then posting crying laughing and thumbs up emojis.
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When we speak on a warm Wednesday morning, Mr Kenyon is ready to address the elephant in the room. “I’m not a polished politician,” he admits.
“I am rough around the edges. I have made mistakes in my life. I’m not perfect. Nobody is. Not a single person in the world is perfect.
“I think everybody does say things that eventually they regret. It was a crude attempt at a joke to probably about 50 followers.
“No offence was meant, and it’s not something I’d do now.”
Mr Kenyon then takes the opportunity to bring up Ms Vorderman’s thoughts on grooming gangs and trans rights. “There’s been a lot of noise about this indirect, sort of vulgar tweet that I’ve made,” he says.
Nigel Farage’s ‘plucky plumber'(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
“But I’ve not heard much about Carol’s thoughts on Labour not having the grooming gangs inquiry last year or what she thinks about biological males being allowed into single sex spaces.” Asked directly if he would like to take the opportunity to apologise, Mr Kenyon says: “I think I’ve addressed the issue.
“I think that no offence was meant and it wasn’t a direct comment to her. If you go into any building site in the area or any public barracks, I think you’d hear a hundred times worse said.
“It was just, like I said, a crass attempt at a joke and it’s not something I’d make now.”
The mention of work sites and army barracks is no mistake. An important part of Mr Kenyon’s offering is that he is a normal person that understands the struggles of other normal people.
If elected, he says he would be the first person born in the constituency to become MP.
He currently works as a self-employed plumber having previously worked as an NHS specialist technician and in the Army reserves. Reform leader Nigel Farage has described him as his “plucky plumber”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage MP with Robert Kenyon at Real Ale Revolution in Winstanley(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Mr Kenyon argues that Britain has become dominated by “career politicians” disconnected from ordinary people in his campaign launch video. And in a 2024 interview with the M.E.N, he described growing up in a staunchly Labour-supporting family in an area shaped by the decline of the coal mining industry.
Voting for the Tories would have been ‘unthinkable’, he said. But he eventually became “politically homeless” and joined Reform, because he felt other parties had let people down.
He has already accused his Labour rival Andy Burnham of using Makerfield as a “stepping stone”. But he is not entirely new to politics himself having run to be a councillor for Reform twice before winning a seat in Bryn with Ashton-in-Makerfield North ward earlier this year.
On that occasion, he earned twice as many votes as the Labour candidate.
Mr Kenyon also stood for Reform in Makerfield in the 2024 general election, but lost to Labour’s Josh Simons – whose resignation has triggered this byelection. On that occasion, Mr Kenyon received 12,803 votes compared to Simons’ 18,202.
He’s a big Wigan Warriors fan, a Muay Thai specialist and likes a bit of karaoke, naming Go West’s King of Wishful Thinking as his go-to song currently. As for how his family and friends have taken his political ambitions, he says he has received a wealth of support.
“They’re all for it because they know what I’m like,” he says. “They understand that I’ve got a sense of humour and I’ll push myself and I work hard at stuff. They know exactly what I am like as a person and they’ll back me regardless of what comes out. Massively supportive.
“I think it’s par for the course. People know that if you step foot into the spotlight, people are always going to have the two-penneth, they’re going to dig through everything that you’ve ever said. And I think that’s what puts people off getting involved in politics.”
Campaign material at Reform’s Makerfield office(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
When we meet at the bright and very warm Reform headquarters, Mr Kenyon cuts a casual figure. He is slim, neat and towers over everyone else in the room. In his strong Wigan accent he says the campaign so far has been a “whirlwind”. He appears confident on local matters, but less so on national matters.
He admits that he is not entirely familiar with Reform’s Great Repeal Bill, which would counter Labour’s Employment Rights Act – legislation that bans zero hours contracts, fire and rehire, supports the right to sick pay from day one and a real living wage. “I’d have to have a real deep look into that,” he says.
Similarly, he’s not confident speaking about Reform’s plan to scrap the Equality Act and the effect that may have on workplace protections for women. “Again, I’d have to have a good look into it to see which protections. I wouldn’t like to make a snap judgement on something so important,” he says. After the interview, Reform UK contact the M.E.N to confirm the party’s stance on these matters, detailed below.
A regular criticism of Reform politicians is that they are inexperienced. And a widely shared video from the Kirkless council chamber last week seemed to prove that point to some degree, when a newly elected Reform councillor admitted she did not understand the constitution.
But Reform’s big pitch is that Mr Kenyon, the ‘plucky plumber’, is not a polished politician. Far from it. And his team are keen that our photographer snaps portraits of him in front of his white van as if to drive home the point.
Reform’s ‘white van man’ Robert Kenyon(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
So despite that what could he bring to Parliament that his competitors couldn’t? “I’d say speaking on behalf of the people from this area,” he says.
“I’ve not been parachuted in, I’m not using it as a stepping stone, I am not using it to further advance my career. I’m doing it to represent the people of Makerfield, so you could say that being a man of the people. With the best intentions of improving the area.
“I’m somebody from a working-class background who’s got a trade. There’s probably not many tradesmen who’s been in the Houses of Parliament in recent memory.”
At this point I ask if there will be any plumbers left in Greater Manchester if he is also elected to Parliament, like the new Gorton and Denton MP Hannah Spencer.
“One of my mates has just gone self-employed, so I think he’d probably pick up my work,” he laughs.
Mr Kenyon’s pitch to the people of Makerfield revolves around his local roots. Voters should consider him if they want “a local representative, someone who’s worked for a living, someone who knows the area and the people, someone who was born here, someone whose got the best intention to improve this place and not go onto other things, someone that will stay in the area if elected” he says.
Ashton-in-Makerfield Reform UK by-election candidate Robert Kenyon(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
If he ends up in Parliament, he plans to campaign for a new hospital for Wigan; lobby to stop greenbelt development and regenerate the high streets, especially in Ashton and Hindley. “I’ll get behind local campaigns like saving Ashton Library and getting that back open,” he adds.
“And ultimately making the place better and safer.
“I want to be a good local MP. I’m not here for a career in politics, I’m not here to pump up my CV. I am doing this for the people of Makerfield because I live here with my family and friends, so I care about Makerfield.”
One party snapping at the heels of Reform has been Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party. Lowe has gone in hard criticising Mr Kenyon. So does he feel their candidate Rebecca Shepherd – who has 7 per cent of the vote according to one poll – could split right wingers at the ballot box and allow Mr Burnham to win?
“I’ve knocked on a lot of doors in every ward leading up to the local elections and we were asking people which party they’d vote for if there’s an election tomorrow and it’s not really something that came up on the doorsteps,” he says.
“There will be some Restore voters. But in Makerfield, in this by-election, as we’ve seen in the recent poll it’s a two-horse race. And if people are ‘umming’ and ‘arring’ about whether to vote for Restore or Reform, look at our policies if there’s anything you’re unsure of.
“If you do vote for Restore it could open the door for Andy Burnham to win. Like we saw in Runcorn, it came down to six votes. Every vote matters.”
So what of Reform’s plans for illegal immigration? And does Mr Kenyon have sympathy with immigrants who have provided essential services and made their homes in Britain who feel threatened by Reform?
“Reform’s policies have always been allowing sensible immigration and I think the biggest threat is illegal immigration,” he says. “Just the other day we had nearly a thousand people come across illegally, it cost the taxpayer an absolute fortune.
“It’s the illegal immigrants that are the issue because they’re coming over in such numbers and it’s costing the taxpayer billions each year. A lot of them might be wanting to improve their lives, but they might be a threat. And it has been proven that there are people coming across who present a danger to the people in this country.”
“I don’t think you’ve got anything to fear if you’re going to come from a country and you’ve got a specialist skill,” says Robert Kenyon, about immigrants to the UK(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Mr Kenyon claims pubs, which he says are closing down en masse, are often bought cheaply by ‘out of town developers’ and turned into house of multiple occupation to house illegal immigrants. “We are being disproportionately used for HMOs for housing illegal immigrants,” he says.
“You could work all your life to buy a two-bed terrace and then a developer buys the next house to you and you get eight people living in that small house. It’s an extra stress on infrastructure but then there’s a safety aspect because you don’t know, because they’ve come here illegally, you can’t do the background checks on them to find out what they’ve done in the past or in the culture that they’ve come from.
“So if you’re a young family, or you’ve got young kids, you might not want them to play in that garden because of the risk, you know, the safety risks.”
He insists that Reform welcome people who come to Britain legally and contribute. “I don’t think you’ve got anything to fear if you’re going to come from a country and you’ve got a specialist skill,” he says.
“Ultimately immigration should benefit us, so if you’re a doctor, a brain surgeon, if you’re a chemist, if you’ve a skill or a job or a trade that we’re in desperate need for, then by all means come, pay your taxes, bring your family, integrate, you’re welcome.
“If you come here illegally and you’re going to be funded by the tax payer and you may be a threat to security in the country, then it’s them people that need deporting.”
Policy and ambitions from Makerfield aside, there is one burning question – can Mr Kenyon beat Andy Burnham?
“With the support and the volunteers we’ve got, yes we can, but people need to remember it’s a two-horse race,” he says. “It’s between Reform UK and Labour, and nobody else.”
Rob Kenyon says he’s a local man who understands local people – albeit one who has made some mistakes. Whether or not that message appeals to enough voters remains to be seen.
What Reform UK said after the interview.
*After the interview, Reform UK contacted the M.E.N to confirm the party’s stance on the Great Repeal Bill and the Equalities Act. A Reform UK spokesman said: “Labour’s latest legislation has been a disaster for the UK economy.
“Just this week, the boss of Next warned of a dramatic fall in the number of entry-level jobs as a direct result of Labour’s employment legislation, and the Renters’ Rights Act is driving landlords to sell up in droves, slashing rental supply and pushing up prices. A Reform UK government would introduce the ‘Great Repeal Bill’ to ditch daft regulations such as the Renters’ Rights Act in order to drive growth and investment, as well as bring down bills and ease the cost of living for consumers.”
“On the Equalities Act, a Reform UK spokesman said: “The Equalities Act has allowed this country to be ripped apart by diversity, equality and inclusion, allowing discrimination against white working class boys in favour of giving unfair advantages to other groups.
“A Reform UK government would replace this legislation with the Workplace Fairness Act which will maintain hard earned protections won by previous generations against unfair discrimination, including maintaining pregnancy and maternity protections and rights.”