{"id":604616,"date":"2026-05-26T10:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/604616\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T10:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:53:08","slug":"carol-vorderman-demands-apology-from-reform-candidate-over-disgusting-comments-reform-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/604616\/","title":{"rendered":"Carol Vorderman demands apology from Reform candidate over \u2018disgusting comments\u2019 | Reform UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carol Vorderman has demanded an apology from the Reform UK candidate in the upcoming Makerfield byelection<\/a> for \u201cdisgusting comments\u201d he made about her on social media in the past.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster and former Countdown numbers expert described Robert Kenyon, who Reform has backed to face Andy Burnham in next month\u2019s vote, as a \u201ccowardly man\u201d for a series of offensive posts made by the Wigan councillor that have since been deleted, along with his account.<\/p>\n

Vorderman, who last week posted a video in which she described Kenyon as a misogynist who made \u201cdisgusting comments\u201d, told the Daily Mirror on Tuesday that she wanted \u201can apology from Rob Kenyon, to me, and to all the other people he\u2019s abused online\u201d.<\/p>\n

Danny Kruger, who joined Reform last September, defended Kenyon\u2019s comments, telling BBC Radio 4 on Monday that while his posts were \u201cinappropriate\u201d, they were not viewed as serious enough within the party for Kenyon to be pulled as their byelection candidate. Kruger said he was \u201cnot going to judge people for what are essentially regarded at the time and intended as private conversations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kruger conceded it was \u201cclearly wrong for politicians to talk in that way\u201d, but added: \u201cHe was not a politician at the time, he was an ordinary man from an ordinary place, and what he\u2019s done now is step forward, outraged at the state of our country and the state of his community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vorderman dismissed Kruger\u2019s response, saying that being an \u201cordinary man\u201d was no excuse and the fact that Kenyon\u2019s posts were made publicly meant they should be considered as online abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 65, I grew up in north Wales in abject poverty, I spent half of my life living in the north, whether it was Leeds, or Manchester, or that strip of north Wales,\u201d said Vorderman. \u201cAnd he says Kenyon is just an ordinary man saying ordinary things. No, I\u2019m sorry, Kenyon isn\u2019t an ordinary man. He\u2019s a cowardly man, which is why he deleted one of his social media accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s Angela Rayner also criticised the comments, telling the Mirror that \u201cit says all you need to know about Reform that they are allowing this repulsive misogynistic abuse to stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

More 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 \u201cvanity purposes\u201d and so they can \u201cshag anyone they want\u201d, while a separate investigation by the Independent found that Kenyon had posted that women can\u2019t \u201cref, drive or give directions\u201d, that women presenting rugby games on TV \u201caren\u2019t up to the job and only there to tick a box\u201d and that he had declared: \u201cI\u2019m sexist, sorry but I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding Kenyon\u2019s posts on the forum, a Reform spokesperson said: \u201cThese comments were made before Cllr Kenyon entered politics. Rob is perfectly entitled to his own personal opinions on abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this country, this issue has always been a matter of conscience, regardless of which party a politician represents. Rob isn\u2019t a polished, professional politician and doesn\u2019t speak like one. That\u2019s precisely why he\u2019ll be a straight-talking, effective voice for normal working people in Makerfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform and Wigan council have been contacted for a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carol Vorderman has demanded an apology from the Reform UK candidate in the upcoming Makerfield byelection for \u201cdisgusting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-604616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}