REFORM UK’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election was formerly “friends” on Facebook with a neo-fascist leader.
On Tuesday, Nigel Farage’s party named Robert Kenyon as their pick for the Westminster by-election to stand against Labour’s Andy Burnham.
Kenyon was previously the Reform candidate in Makerfield in the 2024 General Election, where he came second to Labour’s Josh Simons. At the time, Searchlight magazine reported that he was Facebook “friends” with neo-fascist leader Gary Raikes, the founder of the New British Union.
The Times later reported that 41 of Reform’s candidates in the General Election were friends with Raikes, who was previously the leader in Scotland of the British National Party (BNP) before founding the New British Union, but did not specifically name Kenyon.
A Facebook screenshot shows that Kenyon’s friend list included Raikes, whose profile image included the words “New British Union” – a group which advocates for a "fascist revolution".
The profile ID in the screenshot matches a currently available account in Kenyon’s name, although Raikes no longer appears on the friends list. A second Facebook friend, visible in the screenshot, remains friends with Kenyon's account.
Kenyon’s account's cover photo, which was uploaded last week on May 14, states: “Hi, I’m moth balling this account so have removed all my friends on there.”
Asked for a response, Reform UK said there were not “any sort of screenshots to evidence your claim” that Kenyon and Raikes had been Facebook friends. They added: “Do you have any?”
The party was supplied with the unredacted version of the screenshot above, and did not respond further.
Challenged on the 41 Reform candidates who were Facebook friends with Raikes in 2024, Farage told Good Morning Britain: "Look, most of our candidates are not political sophisticates. Alright?"
Elsewhere, the Conservatives have highlighted that Kenyon’s alleged Twitter/X account – under the name Makerfield_RFK – has been suspended.
“Care to explain what Robert had his Twitter account suspended for?” the party’s press office wrote on social media.
The account on X shows only that it is suspended, alongside the statement: "X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules."
Previously, Reform UK leader Farage has also been accused of holding fascist views, with numerous schoolmates and teachers alleging that he had bullied Jewish people, sang Nazi songs, and said slogans such as "Hitler was right" while at the private school Dulwich College.
