Reform investigates whether Makerfield candidate's sexist posts were costly
Nigel Farage admits result was ‘disappointing’ after party hoped for tightly fought battle with Burnham
TL;DR
- Reform UK is examining the impact of candidate Robert Kenyon's sexist and lewd social media posts on its performance in the Makerfield byelection.
- Nigel Farage expressed disappointment with the election result, where the party failed to achieve its target number of votes.
- Voters, particularly women, reportedly cited Kenyon's social media comments as a reason for not supporting him.
- Reform UK suggests the candidate received advice not to apologize for the comments, with a Reform source acknowledging the "Vorderman stuff did not help us."
- The party is also addressing the challenge posed by the far-right Restore UK party and its rhetoric, which may be pushing Reform towards more hard-right policies.
- Nigel Farage urged voters who supported Restore UK to back Reform, positioning it as the only viable contender on the center-right.