Reform’s Makerfield candidate had a car crash interview with the BBC’s political editor over his controversial internet history.

Wigan councillor Robert Kenyon is running against Labour candidate, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, in the crunch by-election.

While it is still seen as a two-horse race, Kenyon’s deleted social media posts have dominated much of the conversation during the campaign.

As BBC political editor Chris Mason pointed out during an tense exchange, Kenyon once claimed Russia was “well within its rights” to invade Ukraine’s sovereign territory Crimea.

“That will sound to some people that you’re sympathetic to Vladimir Putin,” the BBC journalist pointed out.

Kenyon replied: “Absolutely not Chris, I’ve served in the Army Reserves since and I’m totally against illegal annexation of Crimea. Things have happened since, people change their opinions on things…”

Mason replied: “Let’s talk about Brexit. You said that that the Leave campaign peddled ‘nationalistic pish’ during the Brexit referendum. Did you back Brexit?”

“100%, hand on heart, I voted for Brexit,” Kenyon insisted.

“So who was peddling ‘nationalistic pish’?” Mason asked. “Some critics of your party leader Nigel Farage would accuse him of that.”

Nigel Farage made his reputation on being opposed to the EU, and Reform was even called the Brexit Party until 2021.

“To be honest, I don’t even know what context…I’m not sure what ‘nationalistic pish’ to be honest with you,” Kenyon said. “I’ve got no recollection of saying that.”

Mason moved onto the councillor’s unearthed anti-vax comments during the Covid pandemic, pointing out the Reform candidate once told England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty to “fuck right off” when he urged to country to get booster jabs.

“But I think you got the jabs yourself,” Mason said. “So is it responsible to be saying that kind of stuff while you were getting the jabs yourself?”

“I’m not anti-vax or anti-jabs. I had my first lot of Covid jabs,” Kenyon said.

Reminded of his comments about Whitty, Kenyon cleared his throat and said: ”[That] wasn’t a polite thing to say. I wasn’t involved in politics back then. I speak like a normal bloke does.”

He claimed “you’ll hear a lot worse” in most pubs than what he said in his deleted social media posts.

Mason then moved onto Kenyon’s comments about Carol Vorderman after he appeared to endorse a lewd post about the former Countdown presenter’s body in 2021.

Kenyon insisted: “I did not make sexual remarks about Carol Vorderman. Somebody else did but then I responded with a crass joke about that comment.

“Personally I did not make that comment.”

Comments unearthed from the last decade or so have also found Reform’s “plucky plumber” has admitted to being “sexist” and calling abortions a “cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby” .

Mason said there was a pattern around some of the candidate’s comments which sound like they are “degrading women”.

“There might have been a few crass comments,” Kenyon said. “If I’m an elected public official, as I am now, I wouldn’t make any crass comments, because everything you do say is under a microscope.

“But comments I made before I was involved in politics… you’ll be judged in the future by what you say.”

Robert Kenyon thinks pulling a pint after being interviewed makes him more electable, it doesn’t.
On Ukraine- I’ve changed my mind.
On Brexit – I don’t understand what I posted.
On anti-vax claims – I got my vaccine.
On Carol Voderman – I only made a crass joke.#makerfield pic.twitter.com/FALR5TWBoL

— Mike H (@mikoh123) June 2, 2026

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