Reform UK has now admitted that the party’s candidate for the crucial Makerfield by-election was Facebook friends with a far-right fascist leader. But the harsh reality is that Nigel Farage and his party simply appear indifferent to the apparent views of some of their members.
The fact that Robert Kenyon was busy cleaning up and deleting his social media ahead of his formal announcement as Reform’s candidate suggests the party was all too aware of the fallout which was always going to come.
Indeed, the anti-fascist group Searchlight highlighted Mr Kenyon’s connection with Gary Raikes, founder of the neo-fascist New British Union, when he stood as the Makerfield candidate in the 2024 general election.
So much for the best candidate vetting system in British politics promised by Mr Farage and his deputy leader Richard Tice.
Of course, just because someone is friends with another person on Facebook, it does not automatically mean they share or endorse their far right views.
Reform said being a Facebook friend “does not constitute an endorsement of his views”, adding: “Robert Kenyon is a brilliant candidate and we are proud to have him represent the party. British politics needs more real people involved like Robert.”
Nevertheless, it should – in my opinion – be considered a red flag.
Certainly, Reform insiders were keen on Mr Kenyon – not because of any potential rightwing views but because of other qualities he brings as the man to try to beat Labour’s Andy Burnham.
He is a local lad and would, as he points out in his video, be the first Makerfield-born person to represent the area in parliament. Definitely a panacea to the now departed careerist Josh Simons – who was parachuted in to the seat in 2024 – and a contrast to a man in Burnham who is essentially using the local voters to become PM.
Mr Kenyon, who was recently elected as a councillor for Reform, is also ex-army, ex-NHS and is now that most electable of things (following the victory of the Green’s Hannah Spencer in Gorton and Denton) – a plumber.
Those were the reasons he was selected for a race which is going to put him personally under the most intense of scrutiny.
However, the previous knowledge of his potential links to the far right are disturbing and it follows a pattern for Reform.
In the period running up to the local elections, The Independent carried revelations that some of the party’s candidates had openly misogynist, racist, Isalmophobic and homophobic views.
In Bexley, Reform candidate Lynn Smith appeared to have posted a picture of herself using a scarf as a hijab on Facebook, stating: “Thinking of becoming a Muslim just as a reason to hide my pelican neck. Then again, I couldn’t give up alcohol.”
In Chingford, there was Matt Davis who, among other things, described Islam as “an evil death cult”.
In Blackburn, there was Andrew Mahon who made a grotesque reference to Wes Streeting being gay.
In Wakefield, Reform had Brett Muscroft who described Islam as cancer.
Then there was Glenn Gibbins in Sunderland, now suspended over allegations of racism.
The list went on.
But on each occasion, Reform UK was – at best – snail-paced in taking action.
When The Independent put cases to Reform, the press office would take days to even acknowledge the inquiry and then would send a dismissive “it is being investigated” response with no evidence of anything happening or indeed any real investigation taking place.
This is in stark contrast to when The Independent reported concerns from Reform’s London mayor candidate Laila Cunningham about the “mass deportation” language used by the party and how it negatively impacted the result in London. In that instance, the press office called within minutes and spent an entire afternoon demanding the story was removed or significantly changed.
Clearly, they were much more worried about one of their own candidates raising concerns about the consequences of their extremism than having extremists as candidates.
But it goes further. Deputy leader Richard Tice, while appeared on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday morning BBC show the weekend after the election, had the same response to her on verifiable racism in his party and financial issues around him reducing his tax bill and Mr Farage taking an undeclared donation of £5 million.
“Sneers, smears and libel,” he described it dismissively. It underlined the fact that the leadership simply does not care about having extremists represent them.
It is strange, in a way, because Mr Farage has always claimed that he did more to stop the far right than any other politician and, indeed, banned former members of the BNP, EDL and other far right groups from UKIP, the Brexit Party and now Reform UK.
He also fell out with X owner Elon Musk over not supporting Tommy Robinson and has pointedly not taken part in the Unite the Kingdom marches.
However, Reform’s Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin was not thrown out after complaining about black and brown faces on TV ads or turning up to support Tommy Robinson’s march last weekend.
The reason that Mr Farage, Mr Tice and Reform generally want to brush over these extremists is that they are worried about losing support to other rival parties on the right, in particular Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain which has already attracted defectors from Reform.
Restore Britain has its own Makerfield candidate and is actually third favourite with the bookmakers to win.
Rightwing commentators like Dan Wootton have been chipping away at Reform’s base and it is alarming the leadership.
Chucking out their own local plumber in Makerfield will not help hold together the core working class vote they are now relying on in the North of England, Midlands and East Anglia.
In the past, Mr Farage has been close to Marine Le Pen in France. And, like her National Rally Party – while Mr Farage wants to avoid his party being designated as far right or fascist – it is clear he will tolerate having candidates with those sorts of views.
