Nigel Farage has defended misogynistic comments made by his Makerfield by-election candidate Robert Kenyon as “the sort of thing you’ll hear in every pub in the country every evening” just days ahead of the crunch vote.
Mr Kenyon, who is standing against Labour’s Andy Burnham in next week’s contest, used a now-deleted X account to support an offensive post about Welsh broadcaster Carol Vorderman.
In 2021, Mr Kenyon interacted with a sexually explicit post directed at TV presenter Carol Vorderman, writing, “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking.”
Other posts included claims that women cannot drive or referee, alongside an explicit declaration stating, “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.”
He also described abortion as a “cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby” and claimed women utilized it for “vanity purposes.”
Reform leader Mr Farage was asked about the comments during a press conference held in the Makerfield constituency, and dismissed them as “a few laddish things”.
“These comments were posted a decade ago,” he said. “They’ve been taken wildly out of context, but they’re the sort of comments that you won’t necessarily get if you’re an Oxford-educated career politician living in a nice postcode in London, but I tell you what, they’re the kind of comments you’ll hear in every pub in the country every evening.
“We should be, we should be unapologetic that Rob is an ordinary bloke who’s carved quite a career for himself, had the guts to set up a business, served as an army reservist, is a patriot, likes his rugby, likes the odd pint, and said a few laddish things on things on social media 10 years ago.
“Do you know what I’d say to that? I’d say, so what? And what about what about all those politicians at local and national level, in the north of England, but covered up the grooming gang scandal at exactly the same time, which of those is more serious.”
The Reform UK leader was in Makerfield to unveil a new tax policy for the self-employed.
At the press conference, Mr Farage announced plans to increase the VAT threshold for small businesses from £90,000 a year to £150,000 a year.
The current threshold means that any small businesses who make more than £90,000 in total turnover have to register for VAT on goods they sell.
As a debate over whether the UK should rejoin the EU continues to swirl over the by-election, Mr Farage claimed the step “couldn’t happen all the while we were in the grip of the European Union, won’t happen with politicians that frankly want to take us back there”.
The Makerfield by-election takes place on Thursday June 18.
Mr Burnham is pitching himself not just as a local candidate looking to represent the constituency, but also as a senior Labour figure who can change the direction of the party.
But the appearance came amid growing speculation that Reform is about to fall short with other parties now believing Labour’s Andy Burnham has the contest in the bag when voters go to the polls in the constituency near Wigan next week.
The Independent has learnt that the Green Party has already opened nominations for candidates to run as Greater Manchester mayor in anticipation of Mr Burnham being forced to step down once he becomes an MP.